Some Dreams Must Die
by 54Viruses
Summary: Everyone wants to meet their role model, but when that role model is Oroku Saki nothing good can come of it. Watch for the second story, Some Dreams Won't Die.
1. Oroku Saki Role Model

I do not own Oroku Saki or Oroku Karai

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Chapter one; Oroku Saki; Role Model

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Samantha Gelding was an acrobat. 

Or, at least she was crazy enough to ride downhill standing balanced on her bike's pedals without using her hands.

School was out for a three day weekend. There was no homework, no DECA, no track and no recitals. Sam couldn't remember the last time she had this much free time on her hands. Admittedly she would probably just end up babysitting Travis and reading a book all weekend, but that was better than nothing. Right now Sam felt like she was on top of the world!

Until her front tire hit the curb funny.

A small shriek escaped her as Sam fell to the ground. Her bike rolled lazily out into an intersection before stopping tiredly and falling over. Some people stopped and helped her to her feet, asking her if she was unhurt. She was just about to answer in the affirmative when her bike was hit by the most expensive car Sam had seen in her life.

She stared in horror. "Holy…My bike!"

The driver's side door of the car opened and a stubby man in a uniform stepped out. He hurried to the front of the car and looked down at the wreckage. The sight actually made the man cringe.

Standing up straighter the man looked around at the crowd and somehow picked Samantha out as the owner of the bike, his selection might have had something to do with her open mouth and pale complexion. "You! What do you think you are doing leaving a bicycle out in the middle of the street? Are you _baka_?"

The man had a thick accent and Sam was pretty sure he was Asian. She had no idea what a 'baka' was and couldn't deny or confirm his accusation. "I… I," Sam suddenly regained the use of her mouth and brain, "You hit my bike!"

The man stormed over to Samantha. He was shorter than Sam's own unimpressive five-foot-five and he had to be a good five times wider than her, "You should not have been so careless as to leave your bicycle in the street!" He actually shook his chubby little finger in her face.

Sam brushed his hand to the side. "I admit I was being careless while riding it, but it went in to the street of its own volition." Sam retorted. She was angry and she always slipped into debate team mode when she was angry.

"Impossible, bicycles do not have 'own volition', you must have left it there!"

"Again, I didn't put it out there. But I did see that it had landed on the crosswalk. In no way did you so much as slow down for that stop sign, if I had still been on my bike you could have killed me!" The driver was about to respond when a well groomed hand rested on his shoulder. A smooth, low voice spoke.

"Quan, you were driving a little recklessly. Apologize to the young lady."

Quan's eyes widened slightly before he clasped his hands in front of him and bowed. "My apologies miss, I was mistaken."

His sudden change of attitude completely threw Sam for a loop. "Apology… accepted?"

"Return to the car Quan and remove the bicycle from the front fender." The man behind Quan instructed. Quan hurried off to do as he was told. Sam was completely confused by this new turn of events. She looked up at the man responsible for the driver's change in attitude and clapped her hands over her mouth in surprise and shock.

"Mr. Saki!" Sam gasped; her eyes had to be as large as dinner plates. Oroku Saki stood in front of her, dressed smartly in what had to be the world's finest business suit and looking down at Sam with an expression of kind contemplation.

This was impossible, Oroku Saki's driver had demolished Sam's bike! Suddenly this turned from an annoying nightmare to an amazing dream. Oroku Saki! _The_ Oroku Saki! He was only the most amazing person in the world and he was standing right here in front of Samantha!

Mr. Saki smiled slightly, "It appears you know me, may I have the pleasure of your name?"

_Deep breaths,__ Sam, d__eep breaths_. She pulled her hands from her mouth and tried to remain calm, "Samantha Gelding, sir."

He nodded, "Well then Miss Gelding, it appears that my driver has demolished your transportation. Is your home nearby or may I offer you a ride?" _Oh wow! Don't swoon!_

"My apartment building is about twenty minute's walk from here, sir." Samantha was more than proud of herself, she hadn't stuttered once. Now that she was sure she could talk to the man she was able to think of other things, like how he was just as handsome in person as he was on television! The other girls, heck even the guys in DECA would be so jealous when they heard about this!

"Then I feel I must insist, it would not be proper to leave a young lady such as yourself unescorted in the city." Samantha felt a slight flush rise to her cheeks; people just didn't treat people this way anymore. He was such a gentleman.

"Thank you." was all she could manage. Oroku Saki led Sam to his car. Quan hurried over and opened the door for them. Mr. Saki gestured for Sam to go first and she quickly slid in, careful to keep the skirt of her school uniform modest. She put her backpack on the floor in front of her and looked around. The inside of the car was just like the limos in the movies with two plush seats facing each other. In the seat facing the back of the car sat a thin, pale man with sweaty face. Beside him sat a beautiful Japanese woman, Oroku Karai herself! She smiled and nodded to Samantha as Mr. Saki sat in the seat next to Sam.

"May I introduce Miss. Samantha Gelding. Miss Gelding, this is my associate Mr. Peters and this is my lovely daughter, Karai." Mr. Saki introduced everyone.

Sam nodded and smiled, "I'm pleased to meet you." The greeting was stiff and formal, but entirely honest; this was an opportunity of a life-time! Everything was like some kind of fantasy, except for that Mr. Peter's character; he looked like he was going to be ill. Mentally Sam shrugged the thought off; even associates of Mr. Saki's might get carsick.

Sam told Quan where her apartment building was and the vehicle began to move. Mr. Saki smiled at Sam, "Tell me; what school do you attend?" His tone was kind and interested.

Sam blushed, why would anything about her interest Mr. Saki? "St. Mary's High School, sir."

He nodded as though this were very acceptable to him. "A good school. Do you participate in any activities there?" Sam told him about her various school activities.

For some reason Mr. Peters swallowed nervously. His eyes moved from Mr. Saki, to Miss. Karai, and back. At one point his eyes rested on Samantha's backpack. The top was sloppily unzipped; he just might have a chance.

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Slip a review into the backpack! 

If Sam looks too Mary-Sue-is let me know and I'll pull a fancy lever. Nothing will happen but any excuse to pull a fancy lever is good enough for me.


	2. Family Matters

I do not own Oroku Saki or Oroku Karai.

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Chapter two; Family Matters

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The girl opened the door of the apartment building and glanced over her shoulder before disappearing within. As the car pulled away from the curb Mr. Saki turned to his 'associate'. "Charming young girl, don't you think so?" 

Mr. Peters wiped a handkerchief across his forehead, "Yes, quite charming." He agreed stiffly.

"And a student at St. Mary's. Correct me if I'm wrong Mr. Peters, but doesn't your own lovely young daughter attend that school?" Mr. Saki's tone was conversational, but the threat was obvious. "Now, I will ask you one more time. Where is the disk you procured from my business?"

Mr. Peters swallowed hard. "I must have lost it." He gasped.

"That is most unfortunate Mr. Peters. Don't you agree Karai?"

"Yes, most unfortunate indeed." Karai agreed. There was a look in her eyes that when Peters looked at her he almost believed that she spoke honestly about her regret. But the impression was lost as her gaze iced over once again.

The car pulled up to another curb. "You have twenty-four hours Peters." Mr. Saki said, his voice was still calm, "If I do not get that disk, then I may just offer your daughter a ride as well." He handed Mr. Peters a card before the door opened.

Peters crawled out of the car as fast as he could, then watched in misery as the squat driver returned to his place behind the wheel of the car and drove off.

Once the car was out of sight Peters looked at the card. It was a photograph. The picture showed a young girl with blond hair and bright blue eyes smiling and laughing with her friends as she climbed the stairs to her school, completely unaware that she was being photographed.

A long sigh shook the man's frame. His family had twenty-four hours to get as far away from New York as possible. Time enough.

He just prayed that the girl, Samantha Gelding, would forgive him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Who was that?"

"Nobody, go do your homework."

"Didn't Mom say you're not supposed to accept rides from strangers?"

"Didn't I just tell you to go do your homework?"

"Don't have any." Sam looked down at her little brother, Travis. She could smell a lie from this kid from _miles_ away.

"Doesn't Sister Anne Margret teach your class?"

Travis thought about the question, looking for a trap. "Uh, yeah." He still didn't see one but from the look in his sister's eyes he had just fallen into the trap.

"Sister Ann Margret _always_ assigns extra homework on three day weekends. She's more devout about that than she is Saturday Mass. Go do your homework." Travis whined and started up the stairs towards their apartment. Samantha hitched up her backpack and started up after him. Behind her little brother's back she allowed a smile to show; _the_ Oroku Saki had given _her_ a ride home from school! So cool!

There was a note on the front door of their apartment. Travis grabbed it first but Samantha pulled it easily out of his grasp, loving the fact that he hadn't hit his growth spurts yet. "Hey!"

"Hay is for horses." Sam replied as she read the note.

In the note their mother explained that she would be out the rest of the night and their father was working late as well. Sam smirked, the last time that had happened they had both brought home leftovers from their favorite restaurant and her mother had brought home a rose to be put in water. It was kind of sweet that her parents still snuck out on dates and all, Sam just wished they'd find somebody else to watch their darling little boy.

The rest of the note included instructions for dinner and a promise that both parents would be home for the rest of the three day weekend.

"What'sitsay? What'sitsay?" Travis was jumping up and down, trying to grab the paper. Sam was holding it over her head as she read it.

"It says that Mom and Dad are going to be out all night."

"Alright!" Travis continued jumping up and down but no longer for the note. Mom and Dad gone meant pizza.

"It also says you have to go to bed early." Sam grinned as her brother started jumping for the paper again.

"Nuh-uh, no it doesn't! Give it!" She continued to hold the paper over her head as she unlocked the door and let the two of them inside the apartment.

"Yer not gonna get it!" Sam teased once they were inside. She stuck her tongue out at him and wrinkled her nose. It was childish, but that was why she had waited until she was inside. "Yer not gonna get it!"

Travis stopped jumping up and down. He stuck his tongue out right back at her, and then had a brilliant idea. His face suddenly turned from that of an angel to an evil smirk. He reached up, but didn't jump, "Tickle tickle." Sam shrieked, pulling her arm down and trying to back away from the nine-year old.

"No fair!" She objected. She couldn't fight that attack any more than she could the laughter.

"Tickle tickle." Travis smiled and wiggled his fingers at her menacingly. In the end Travis won the note and was pleased to see that he got to pick the toppings tonight.

Samantha was still chuckling to herself as she walked into her room and dropped her book bag onto her bed. With a sigh she reached into the bag and started pulling out books, papers, notebooks and binders. Sam always emptied out her bag at the end of the day, this way she never forgot about any homework or library books. Not that she needed to worry this weekend, but old habits die hard.

Finally Sam pulled out her planner and tore out the page for that week, her official recognition that the week was over. Let the weekend begin! "Okay Travis! What do you want on your Pizza?" Sam called as she left the room.

The planner was tossed carelessly on top of her desk. She never saw the disk that slid out from between the pages.

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Reviews! Leave a review and you can pick the toppings on your next pizza! 


	3. Not A Dream

I do not own Oroku Saki, Oroku Karai or the Foot clan

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Chapter three; Not A Dream

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"What do you mean you can't find them?! I ordered a twenty-four hour watch on their house, how did they escape?" 

The foot tech watched fondly as his life flashed before his eyes. "Master, they were all seen entering their home that evening, and they never came out. We went to investigate and the house was empty, even their possessions had been removed." Oroku Saki's multi-thousand dollar desk flew over the foot tech's head, crashing to the floor somewhere behind him.

"How did they escape?" Saki repeated.

"We don't know." The tech replied. The tech was seized by his shirtfront and lifted clean off the floor. Saki held him up with one hand and grated his words out through his anger.

"Then go back, look harder, find out! Peters was too stupid to get out alone!" The foot tech ninja swallowed back a sigh of relief. Orders were good, orders meant that he would live another day.

Oroku Saki easily tossed the ninja. He was a good foot tech; he stood up and bowed before leaving despite his treatment. Saki couldn't afford to lose too many like him, there just weren't too many like him available.

"Master, I have received information as to the whereabouts of the disk." Saki actually smiled a genuine smile. Karai, the one he could count on no matter what situation arose. Even when her pesky sense of honor objected she would obey him in the end. Yes, she was his greatest success.

"Where is it?"

"Peters managed to pass the disk to the girl; he slipped it into her bag before she was left at her apartment." Oroku Saki didn't face Karai, he simply folded his hands behind his back and let his face relax. Recognizing this sign from her father Karai relaxed inwardly as well.

"Have the foot ninja retrieve the girl and question her as to the disk's current location." Karai's concern would be invisible to anyone else, but Saki didn't have to so much as look at her to sense it. "Make sure she sees and hears nothing about yourself or me." There, now Karai could fool herself into thinking the girl would live, consider it a reward for work well done.

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Mondays after a three day weekend were the worse things ever, especially when your bike was among the dearly departed.

The day had gone slowly. Several times Sam had found herself staring at the clock and timing it to see if it really was moving as slowly as it seemed. Then there was the home work! It was like her teachers had realized they didn't assign enough last week and were rushing to make up for it. With all the extra work Sam couldn't even fit everything into her backpack. To make matters worse Sam's fingers were killing her. Why did her piano teacher have to push her so hard?

As it was Samantha had a lot to grouse about during her long walk home.

Suddenly a hand clasped itself over Samantha's mouth. She dropped the books she hadn't been able to fit in her pack and tried to fight back as she was pulled into a store. Her elbow found someplace lucky and Sam pulled free, slipping one arm loose from her back pack to use its weight as a weapon. What she saw nearly made her drop the bag; ninja! Sam took a breath to scream bloody murder but another hand clasped over her mouth, expertly avoiding her attempts to bite. An arm wrapped itself around her middle, clamping her arms to her sides and effectively ruining her chances of swinging her book bag. The arms were too strong for Sam to struggle free. Her first survival reaction was wearing off and the fear was setting in, what did these people want?

Something stabbed into her arm; the pain was sharp and deep, like a large needle. Sam tried to fight some more, her eyes were beginning to stream with tears. Her throat began to hurt before Samantha even realized she was trying to scream. Shortly after that everything started to fade, even the pain.

_Oh good,_ Sam thought as everything faded into a white cloud, _It's just a dream_.

…

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For anyone who is curious, the turtles don't show up for a while...(please don't hate me) 

Please review.


	4. Kill the Girl

I do not own Oroku Saki, Oroku Karai or the foot clan

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Chapter four; "Kill the girl…"

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"Stupid sisters." Travis growled. He sat on the foot of the stairs waiting for his sister to come home. He normally only had to wait a couple minutes before she came through the door and began tormenting him, but it had been over an hour now and there was no sign of Samantha. 

Old Mrs. McFarthing came to her door. It was always open this time of day so that she could see Travis and watch him until his sister took him to their apartment upstairs. Usually she could close it by now, where could that girl be?

"Travis?" The boy looked up at her with an angry expression his brown eyes had darkened to a dark muddy shade. "Travis, would you like something to eat before your sister gets here?"

"No thank you." He replied. Travis turned back to the door, his arms resting on his knees and his chin resting on his arms. Mrs. McFarthing watched him for a moment before coming out and sitting next to him on the stairs. They stared at the door for a little longer.

After several minutes she put her arm over the boy's shoulder. "I'm sure your sister's fine." She assured him. With speed only a little boy was capable of Travis turned and wrapped his arms around the older woman's waist. A moment later the boy was sobbing. All Mrs. McFarthing could do was to rub the boy's back and murmur assurances to him. "Samantha is fine, just fine."

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"Fine, if you want to play that little game fine." Samantha was tied to a chair, she didn't know why, she didn't know where. Her head hung down with her hair hanging around her face, a fragile but strangely comforting barrier between herself and this woman, this evil, evil woman.

Sam didn't know how long she had been awake, but as long as she had been awake she had been in this white, windowless room. The woman, the evil woman, had come in a while ago and had begun to interrogate her about a disk Sam had never seen or heard of before.

Her wrists hurt and she couldn't feel her hands beyond that. Her ankles hurt and she couldn't feel her feet anymore either, but she could at least see her toes move inside her shoes. Both arms hurt from being behind her for so long. Sam was tired, hungry and scared. This entire situation was completely outside her experience. All she wanted was to go home.

"We have taken your bag and its contents completely apart and have found nothing." The woman stated. Her voice was cold, holding just the edge of a constant threat.

"Did you try reading anything? Sister Abigail says you can find a lot if you know how to use a book." Sam was mentally kicking herself before the slap landed hard across her face, since when had she been this cheeky? It had to be the terror talking. She had read that panic could make people do stupid things.

"Insolent girl! Do you have any idea what is at stake here?" The woman seized Samantha's chin; breaking Sam's curtain of protection and forcing her to look into the woman's stony black eyes. "We know where you go to school and we know where you live. We know about your family; your mother, father, brother, we know about them. We can take them the same way we took you, and we won't be as nice."

"I don't know where the disk is." Sam's voice cracked.

The woman narrowed her eyes and released her grip on Samantha's face. Immediately Sam retreated into her frail curtain of protection, strands of hair clung to the wet trails down her cheeks. Her hair was almost the same shade of brown as the brush on Travis's head. She hoped he wasn't too scared when Sam didn't show up. He tried to be a tough kid, but he hated to be alone.

The evil woman snapped her fingers. Through her curtain of hair Sam saw two ninja come into the room. One of them carried a briefcase and stood behind the evil woman while the other released Sam's arms. Her left arm was immediately retied, the other was laid against the single arm of the chair Sam was tied to and the arm was strapped down. He then ripped the sleeve of Sam's uniform, exposing the skin.

The ninja with the briefcase opened it and held it up. From this case the second ninja pulled a rubber tube and tied it around Sam's arm tightly as a tourniquet. "What are you doing?" Sam's eyes widened, this was starting to look like those spy movies her mom loved. "Stop! What are you doing?!" She started to struggle again.

"Do not worry." The evil woman said, her smile was wicked, "All you will feel is a small prick and a burning sensation." The ninja lifted a syringe from the briefcase and attached a needle to the end.

"Stay away from me! Help! Somebody please help me!" Sam's voice lifted to a panicked shriek. "_Help!_" Her voice pierced the metal door and echoed down the hallway outside.

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The kunoichi knelt in front of Oroku Saki; the only sign of her inner distress was the trembling of a loose strand of coal black hair. This woman was one whom Saki had dedicated a great deal of time and energy in training. She was an expert at poisons and chemicals. Her skills of interrogation were unparalleled, even by Karai.

"What news do you have for me?" Oroku Saki asked. His voice was calm; this woman had yet to fail him.

"Master, I have tried everything in my knowledge and skills; she knows nothing of the disk."

"And the bag?"

"Stripped to the seams master. There was nothing inside but school supplies and the regular trappings of a teenage girl."

"How unfortunate." Saki waved a hand dismissively, "Kill the girl, make sure she is never found." The woman stood, bowed and turned to leave. "Ah, and Reiko…" The woman paused. She had not thought that Oroku Saki even remembered her name. "The next time I ask you for information, you _will_ get it for me."

Reiko paled, "Yes Master."

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Reviews please. 


	5. Not Dead

I do not own Oroku Saki, Baxter Stockman, the foot clan or the Silver Sentry.

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Chapter five; Not Dead.

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It was such an incredible waste. Of course the girl couldn't go back to her family or to the police, but she was still in good condition, hardly a bruise on her. Sure there some messy puncture marks on her right arm, but otherwise she was a prime specimen. Dr. Baxter Stockman couldn't stand to see good resources put to waste; especially when he had a project in mind and highly interesting serums just waiting to be tested. To add to this; the poison in her system hadn't taken full effect yet, and Stockman just happened to keep a store of the antidote.

This girl would be a very valuable tool for science, a very valuable tool indeed.

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Her arm itched, right on the tender part by the elbow, and there was a sick cold feeling running up her left arm. She was lying on something cold and hard, then again everything felt cold right now. Taking a breath, Sam steeled herself for any eventuality and opened her eyes.

The thing she was lying on was a metal table of some kind. Samantha was strapped down to the table with an IV running into her left arm. Her right arm was simply bandaged; the itching must be her arm healing from the injections. When Sam tried to shift her weight she found that she was wearing something soft and thin…and that didn't close all the way in the back.

For a fleeting moment of hope Sam thought she might be in a hospital, safe. That would explain the IV and the hospital robe, but not the metal table and the restraints. The hope flickered like a candle in the wind but Sam clung to it.

A black man with a patch over one eye and a fancy wheelchair rolled into the room. "Ah! You're awake!" He seemed genuinely pleased. His voice was warm and comfortable, like Sam's dad's voice.

"Where am I?" Sam asked, she tried to sit up but a leather strap across her chest restrained her.

"No, don't try to sit up. You are in my lab. I am Dr. Baxter Stockman." Samantha felt a wave of relief, so he was a doctor! There was no worry about this being a lab; Sam was sure those ninja had injected her with some strange stuff and the hospital probably had to run some tests to find out what it was.

Dr. Stockman hooked something up to the IV stand. It was a bag of sick green fluid, almost a darkish neon green. Just looking at the color made Samantha nervous. "What's that?"

He connected the bag to the tubes leading to Sam's arm. "This, my dear, is a very special serum I've made of a variety of fascinating substances. I plan to use it in much the same fashion as DNA therapy and observe the results. They should prove most interesting."

"You, you mean you don't know what it's supposed to do?" Sam's voice shook; she was beginning to rethink her earlier feelings of relief.

"Not really, no. I have a hypothesis of course,-and it's probably correct considering my intellect- but experimentation and discovery is one of the more enjoyable parts of my career field." He slid aside a little plastic tag and the sick green fluid slowly slid down the tube leading to Sam's arm. Sam tried to pull her arm free. The closer that stuff got to the needle in her arm the closer Sam was to a panic attack.

"What's wrong with you? You can't do this to me!" Sam realized she was wrong even as she said it. Of course he could, and he was just about to, "Are you sick or something?"

"Strange. My old assistant said something like that to me once." Dr. Stockman said conversationally as he tightened the restraints. The strange fluid slowly slid into the catheter in Sam's arm, although she couldn't feel anything just the thought alone made her start to retch.

"Excuse me. I have much work to attend to." Dr. Stockman started to roll towards the door as casually as if Sam were there for a simple medical procedure. "One of my aids will take care of you when the infusion is finished."

"Where are you going? Let me out!" As soon as the door was open Sam started screaming for help again. This was about as effective as it had been with the ninja.

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Travis sat in the doorway of his room, listening to the news as the reporter lady talked about his sister.

All police knew was that one week ago Sam had been seen leaving the school and at some point she was seen walking along the route she usually took. Then she had disappeared. Oroku Saki was interviewed and seemed greatly distressed that the young lady he had met only the week before had gone missing. He personally promised to use his every resource to help the police try and find the missing girl.

Sam had thought that this guy was the greatest thing. She looked up to Mr. Saki the way Travis looked up to the Silver Sentry. He could hear her talking about how much this guy had done for the city and how amazing he was as a business man. Travis didn't care about all that. Just so long as this guy could find Sam and bring her home.

He really needed to talk to her. Not only did he miss her and not only was he terrified that something had happened to her, but he had stolen something of hers. It was a CD he had found

on her desk. It didn't play in his CD player and before Travis had the chance to return it Sam had disappeared. He needed to give it back. And to apologize. And to make her promise she would never leave again.

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Yes, I know Stockman specializes in tech, not biological experimentation, but my only other option was Bishop; he and Saki refused to collaborate together on this fanfic project. Eventually they gave me an ultimatum and I realized I wanted Shredder more than Bishop. So Bishop got to go back to area fifty-one and dissect aliens or something.

I also realize the discrepancy between Stockman's state of health and Karai's presence, but this is a fanfic and I reserve the right to break a few rules. (Gleefully throws rules on floor.)

Review or I will leave sick green goo all over your keyboard. Believe it!


	6. Prison

I do not own Baxter Stockman or Oroku Saki.

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Chapter six; Prison

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_Several weeks later…_

Sam sat on the bed absently rubbing her upper arm. Her hair hung over her face as she stared at the floor. She wasn't sure how long she had been trapped in this place. The only methods of measuring time were when she was given meals and when she was taken out ofher cell-like roomfor tests and infusions. Other than the infusions Sam had lost track of everything.

There had been five infusions total. Three of the infusions had been that sick green color, two of them had been clear like water. Although Sam didn't know what the infusions were or what they were supposed to do she did know that the symptoms they left behind were frightening her.

After the second infusion her skin had turned jaundice for several meals before it suddenly darkened. Cramps set in after the third infusion, for nearly five meals anything Sam ate was vomited into the small toilet next to the bed. Before the fourth infusion the cramps and nausea had subsided, but after the infusion the burning had set in. The pain came in waves; sometimes it was a faint annoyance in her spine or shoulders, others it was a debilitating burning pain over her entire back, chest and shoulders.

At the moment it wasn't so bad, the feeling kind of reminded her of the time she spent six straight hours in front of the computer retyping a research report. She wasn't even thinking about the pain, and she steadfastly refused to think about the other symptoms. Instead she thought about Travis, or her schoolwork or anything that wasn't in this place. For however long she had been in this facilitySam had refused to let her mind dwell on the symptoms for much longer than it took to recognize that something was wrong. Sam was sure that if she thought about it for too long she would lose all motivation and give up.

Instead she fought. The first time an aid had come for her he had easily dragged her into this room and shut her in. After that Sam had fought back. Now it took three strong aids to carry her out of the room for tests, examinations or infusion. The nuns at the school would be shocked to see Sam fighting these men the way she did. For an instant the thought made a faint smile cross her face. The smile dropped when she heard a sound at the door.

The handle twisted open to reveal three nervous white-coated men. Sam stood and faced her enemies, ready to fight.

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Five infusions. The girl was worth millions, more if the sixth infusion took as nicely as the first five had.

Saki would probably gut Baxter Stockman if he knew that the doctor had commandeered the girl for this experiment, but if it worked he would finally see Stockman as the genius he truly was. Admittedly he was rushing the process, but with so few humans available to work with this had to be done in one shot, and before Saki discovered that the girl was still alive.

He watched on the security monitors as the girl was taken in for simple tests. She was held for a documentary photo to contrast her current shade of skin with her previous and future shades. The aids fought to get an accurate height and weight. This girl had turned into quite the fighter and made this highly entertaining for Stockman to watch. The aids were often bruised or bitten, one had gotten stuck with a contaminated needle twice; but Stockman wasn't paying the interns this much money to sit around and read science journals.

When they started dragging the girl into radiology Dr. Stockman called through on the intercom system and had to remind them not to forget to use the lead aprons and radiation tags, interns could be so foolish. After the x-rays the aids started carrying the girl over to the MRI, possibly the most entertaining part of the entire process. They strapped her down and sat back in relief while the girl was moved into the heart of the machine and images of her innards were taken.

From the computers in his lab Stockman watched as the information was relayed to his computer. He began to take notes on any changes when quite unexpectedly the stream of information was interrupted. Immediately he called down to radiology to demand an explanation but no one answered. Angrily he turned the security feedback on and discovered that there was no one in the MRI room. He searched through the different cameras until he spotted one of the interns, running down a hallway and looking desperately into every room. Another intern ran up and they spoke for only a moment before running off again, clearly searching for something.

Baxter Stockman's blood pressure began to steadily rise as he realized that they had lost the girl.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sam ran down the hall, she had done it! She had gotten free of the restraints and run before the aids knew what was happening. Down one hall she had found an emergency box containing a hose and a fire axe. Immediately Sam grabbed the little metal rod chained to the case and broke the glass. Once she had the ax in hand she was off and running again.

* * *

Hmmm, plot hole; why do the evil scientists in my mind hold to health codes and stuff?

Answer: Because they're _cracked!_ Some pretense of normalcy has to be maintained to make the nice henchmen and assistants feel better about their bosses. 

Please review.


	7. Running

I do not own Baxter Stockman, mousers or Oroku Saki

* * *

Chapter seven; Running

* * *

It was like clapping, the low sarcastic kind. That was the sound her feet made as she ran down the hall, her bare feet slapping at the smooth tiles on the floor. The thin hospital gown she wore was damp with the sweat that coated Sam's skin and another wave of burning pain was kicking up. She had to get out, but there was no way to tell where out was. No windows, no stairs, it was a huge labyrinth of halls and doors. 

A guard in a black uniform, he was ready to stop anything that came his way, but Sam wasn't ready to stop for anyone. 

She continued to run directly at the guard pulling back the ax she forced herself to think of what had been done to her: the tests, the infusions, the confinement, the exams. Just before she swung the guard put up his hands to protect himself, no such luck. The ax head struck the man on the side of the head. There was blood as the guard hit the floor. Only a little; he had been hit with the side of the ax, not the blade or the pick. Samantha might be desperate but she refused to kill, not yet anyway. Later maybe she… not yet.

His belt held keys and a security card. Samantha tore the card off his belt and started to run again.

When she came to a door with a slot for a card she used the guard's card and the door opened, she hurried through the door and froze. On the other side of the door was a laboratory, there were examination tables and tubes and jars filled with…Sam hoped those weren't human, she prayed those weren't human, for their sake. Sam turned and ran out the door she had just come through.

The running continued, more of that slow, sarcastic clapping.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Stockman had found her nearly fifteen minutes ago on the different security cameras. The girl had found an ax somewhere and proved to be able to wield it without killing. Fascinating. He thought about sending more guards after her, it really wouldn't do to have Saki find out about her, but another impulse took over. 

After all, it was like the rat in the maze all over again. And if there was one thing he loved more than experimenting, it was testing new toys. His mousers had been upgraded; they should be able to capture the girl without causing irreparable damage to the subject.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Samantha trudged down yet another hall. Her back was nearly ramrod straight, the pain was worsening now; her entire torso was burning and her stomach refused to let her slouch without pain. Her hair clung to the moisture on her face. She hoped this wave of pain would pass quickly so that she could focus on escaping. 

Something was coming down the hall ahead of her. The hallway turned up ahead but she could hear it coming. It sounded metallic, clanking. She stopped again, waiting to see what it was and holding her ax at the ready. The clanking grew louder.

Around the corner came a little robot thing, no higher than Sam's knee and not even that. It almost looked cute.

Until it opened its mouth. It had metal blades like teeth and it actually made a roaring sound. Sam took a step back and lifted her ax a little higher. Two more of the robots came around the corner. Samantha knew when she was outnumbered. She turned and ran. Behind her Sam could hear the robot things following, they sounded like they were running too.

Sam stopped in front of another door with a slot for a security card and quickly used the key card she still had. The door unlocked and Sam ran through. The robots were so close behind her that as the door slid shut it caught one of the little mechanical monsters. Using the ax, Sam knocked the robot back out in the hall and the door slid shut. There was scratching and crunching on the other side, but Sam was pretty sure she was safe for the moment. 

Moisture on Sam's hands made it very hard to keep a firm grip on the ax. She dropped it onto the floor and tried to wipe her hands off on the hospital gown but the material was so damp it didn't help much.

The growing sounds the little robots were making on the other side of the door told Sam that her short respite was nearly over. She bent over slowly and painfully, one hand braced against one of the metal cabinets that lined the walls as she reached for the ax. Her stomach felt like there were little razor blades cutting into her skin when she bent it, her back felt like it was being stretched to the limit, but she needed that ax.

With a gasp she stood up, weapon in hand…

…just as the robots broke through the door.

* * *

Now, how are mousers going to bring a desperate girl back to the lab without harming her too badly? I did mention in the last chapter that Stockman was cracked didn't I?

Please Review.


	8. Back at the Ranch

I do not own the mousers or Baxter Stockman.

* * *

Chapter eight; Back at the Ranch…

* * *

"Mrs. Gelding, thank you for coming." Sister Francine shook hands with Mrs. Gelding over the desk, "Please, have a seat."

Mrs. Gelding sat down in the padded chair facing the headmistress's desk. "What did you want to see me about?" She asked, not that she needed to. It was the same reason she had been in here the time before and the time before that.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Travis has been fighting again." The nun truly did look regretful over the news "This is the third time he's been in a fight since…" She hesitated.

"Since my daughter disappeared." Mrs. Gelding said bluntly. She hated how overly sensitive people were being about the issue, it wasn't like they were going to remind her of something she had forgotten. Samantha had been missing for more than two months and tip-toeing on eggshells wasn't going to help find her.

"Well, yes. You see, school policy is that after three fights we expel a student." The nun folded her hands on the desk in front of her, "The administrators have taken into consideration the suffering your family has gone through and has agreed to give him one more chance. But I warn you, this will be his absolute last opportunity."

"Of course." Mrs. Gelding replied, "I understand completely." That was the sum of their meeting. After exchanging more hollow niceties and a farewell the two women shook hands again and Mrs. Gelding left the office.

Outside the office, Travis sat on a chair holding an icepack to his eye. He was a sight with his face covered in dirt and a fat lip in addition to his torn school uniform, which was also covered in dirt. When he saw his mother he quickly stood up and handed the icepack to the nurse that was sitting with him. This uncovered his badly swollen black eye.

As bad as he looked Mrs. Gelding had seen the other boy before his mother swept him off to be petted and spoiled, it had been clear that Travis had won the fight that earned his five day vacation.

Travis hurried to his mother's side and slipped his hand into hers. It was heartbreaking to see her formerly independent young son clinging to his family like he expected them all to disappear. She held his hand as they walked out to the car. "Travis, why did you start that fight?"

"Because Dominick was telling lies." There wasn't a trace of guilt in the boy's voice.

"What kind of lies?"

"Bad ones." Mrs. Gelding felt herself smirk, but quickly pushed it back. They reached her old Honda and she opened the door for Travis to scramble inside.

"What lies did Dominick tell?" Mrs. Gelding rephrased her question. She didn't close the door and remained standing on the sidewalk until her son answered her.

"He said that Sam ran away." That was the cause of the last two fights; it wasn't a surprise that it had caused this one as well.

"So you hit him." It wasn't a question, but the answer was a bit of a surprise.

"No."

Mrs. Gelding lifted her eyebrows. She leaned against the door and prepared for what might come next, "Then who did?" She asked.

"I did, but not for that."

Again Mrs. Gelding braced herself for his next answer, "Why _did_ you hit him?"

Travis took a deep breath. When he spoke it was as though he was trying to spit a nasty taste from his mouth. "He said that Sam had run away and was standing on street corners with short skirts." He clamped his mouth shut, pressing his little lips together in childlike disdain. Mrs. Gelding almost slid off the car door. Her son was defending his sister's honor!

"You know something Travis?" She said.

Travis looked up at her; he was ready for any punishment or lecture that came his way. "What?"

Before she answered Mrs. Gelding closed the passenger door and moved to the driver's side. After she had climbed in, shut the door and was pulling her belt into place she smiled at her son, "I'm not commending your fighting Travis, but I think we both need some ice-cream don't you?" Travis's face broke into the biggest grin anyone had seen on him in months.

"Yeah!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The first swing of the ax knocked the little robot onto its side and the edge of the blade stuck slightly in tile floor. Pain lanced through Sam's abdomen, when it cleared enough for her to look up she screamed and ducked as another of the little monsters jumped at her. It landed somewherebehind her. Sam pulled the ax free just in time to bat aside the third robot and run for the opening in the door.

Once back in the hallway Sam turned and struck the second mechanical monster just before it could catch her from behind. She struck it with the blade butthis only knocked the metal demon away. Sam ran in the other direction. 

As the robots' clanking footsteps followed after her Sam rounded a corner and saw the most beautiful sight in the world, an elevator! She put everything she had left into a sprint and nearly crashed into the back of the elevator shaft. Quickly she spun around, hit the button for the bottom floor and waited for the doors to close.

Every movie she had seen with an elevator scene in it told her to prepare for a fight as the robots came closer and the doors slowly slid shut. For once luck was on her side and the doors closed before the robots were anywhere close to the doors.

Samantha leaned against the back of the elevator cart and sighed. She saw the shiny walls reflecting her own alien image back at her and despite the pain she started to laugh.

She had won! The sensation of the adrenaline and tension draining from her body made her slightly nauseas and she still hurt, but she was basically scot free.

She would be home soon! Sam would get out of here and she would get to a hospital! They would fix her and she would send the police after Stockman. Everything would work out fine now. 

Sam laughed, letting off the tension as the elevator brought her down to a lower level. She looked at the buttons for the floors and continued to laugh when she realized that she hadn't hit the button for the ground floor but one of the basements, the fourth one. Looking up at the little numbers over the door Samantha saw that she had just missed the ground floor, but that was alright, she could easily get back up. It was just a little more time to collect herself. 

Somewhere between the first and second basements the elevator jerked violently and stopped.

* * *

Some people just can't get a break.

Please give this nice young authoress a break, review!


	9. The Elevator

I do not own the mousers or Baxter Stockman.

* * *

Chapter nine; The Elevator

* * *

The elevator jerked again.

Sam lost her balance and fell to the floor, carefully holding the ax away so as not to kill herself with it. The shift from complete survival mode to sweet relief had been bad enough, swinging back into absolute terror was almost unbearable. This wasn't fair, what was wrong _this_ time?

Something struck the top of the elevator car; the clank that rang out was all too familiar. Just as Sam realized it was another one of those evil robot things the car gave another terrifying jerk. She bit back a scream, only a faint whimper escaped.

Then came the scraping and crunching, metal against metal. That thing was trying to get into the elevator just as they had broken through the door of that lab. From the sound of it the robot was succeeding. She could hear the metal starting to give and tear. Sam tried to sit up to defend herself, but was thrown back to the floor by yet another jerk, this on more violent than the last few. Overhead, higher even than the robot on top of the car was the sound of metal creaking and groaning.

"Please stop." Sam begged, her voice high and panicky, "Please…" She looked up at the ceiling, the crunching was louder and she could see the metal bending as the robot came closer to breaking through. "Please," She prayed.

The elevator jerked one last time, the creaking high over head announced that something was about to give and it did, the elevator plummeted the last two and a half floors to the bottom.

Samantha didn't know if she screamed, probably, but when she and the elevator finally landed the pain that had been holding her took over and she blacked out.

* * *

The mousers had gone into the elevator shaft and Stockman had no idea what they had done after that until he received word that the elevator car had crashed at the bottom of the shaft. Those idiot machines must have chewed through the cables controlling the elevator!

It occurred to him that the machines were might not be programmed to retrieve live specimens right now. He sighed and shrugged it off as a lesson for the future. Hopefully he could still glean some useful information from the girl's body.

* * *

Just as it was the pain that had knocked her out it was pain that woke her up. Sam opened her eyes and looked down, or rather over, to where one of the little robots was pulling on her leg. She yanked her leg from its jaws and scrambled away from it, looking around for its counterparts. The robot gave its weird roar and started after her, it seemed to be damaged as it sounded funny and limped slightly.

Sam shifted to her knees and lifted the ax overhead, then swung it down with a grunt. The pick crunched into the thing with a shower of electric sparks and one last robotic wail.

For a moment Sam sat there gasping for breath against the pain clutching her chest and staring at the remains of this little robot. "H-h-okay, now…where are the other two?" It was kind of reassuring, hearing her own voice. Sam looked around the inside of the elevator, the walls were distorted and they reflected red from the paint on the ax and green. Her mind refused to process where that shade of green came from.

She stood up and lifted the ax; the robotic remains clung to it until Sam placed her foot on the robot and pulled the ax free.

The elevator doors were bent as badly as the walls, that wouldn't be Sam's way out. She looked up and saw the emergency exit. The panel was already loose. Sam lifted her ax again and pushed the panel further aside. Something scraped and another of the robots fell to the floor, Sam screamed and jumped back with her ax ready to swing.

The robot didn't move. After a minute Sam lowered the ax a little, and then used it to poke the robot. It didn't move from its position on its side. Sam nudged the thing again and it rolled over, the other side was smashed by something thin and long. "That means one left." Sam told herself, again taking reassurances from the normalcy of her voice.

Once again she lifted the ax and pushed aside the panel, nothing fell at her this time. She hooked the ax head on a corner of the emergency exit and took a deep breath before trying to heave herself up.

A small cry tore from her throat as the pain lanced tighter over her back and across her chest. Sam released the ax handle and staggered back until her back met the wall of the elevator car. She rubbed her eyes vigorously as the tears started streaming with the pain. After several deep, pain-lancing breaths she looked back at the ax handle, it was hanging there so innocently.

"I'm going," she said, "I am going to get out." Samantha pushed herself off the wall and moved back to the ax handle. She checked to make sure it was still securely wedged in the corner and put her hands as high up on the handle as they would go, "I'm leaving." Sam told the ax. Bracing herself for the wave of agony she jumped, "Now!"

She pulled herself up and held herself there fighting the crushing pain until her arms started to shake. Slowly she let go with one hand and reached up for the edge of the emergency access. 

Once her grip there was assured she lifted the other hand. Sam used the ax in her second hand as leverage to slide her arm over the edge. After she had pulled herself up until both arms were on top of the car she bit her lip and swung her leg up to catch the other ledge. Finally she rolled onto the roof of the car, gasping for breath and covered in sweat and tears. Her body felt like it had been cut to pieces and crushed back together, but she was out.

Smiling through the pain in triumph Sam lay still, resting for several minutes. Once her breathing had returned to normal, give or take a slight hitch, Sam reminded herself that there were people probably looking for her; she had to get moving.

Slowly Samantha opened her eyes, still not moving, and examined the elevator shaft above her. There was no ladder, no rungs in the wall or even handholds for climbing to a higher level in case of such an emergency.

Sam grunted. "Typical."

* * *

No mechanical menaces were harmed in the making of this fanfic.

Yes, I was boring and researched elevators to see if this could happen. Normally the elevator's braking system would stop a fall, but the mouser on the car chewed through the brake so it works!

Or rather, doesn't work…

Anywho; Review please.


	10. Lucky Breaks and Dumb Luck

I do not own the mousers

A big thank-you to caylender, winged-monkey and JDanielle for reading and reviewing!

* * *

Chapter ten; Lucky Brakes and Dumb Luck

* * *

Sam rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her knees.

The top of the elevator car was several inches below the top of the door for the elevator shaft. Sam was more than pleased to see that the outer doors had been forced partially open by the car's fall; it shouldn't take much more to get the doors wide enough to slip through.

Samantha hurried over to the small opening, dragging the ax with her. By now she had lost the security card but she refused to release the ax.

Once she was next to the opening Sam braced her side against one door and put a foot against the other. She paused when she saw that her leg was coated in blood. There were several deep cuts where the robot had gotten its teeth into her. The thought of what might have happened if she hadn't woken up made her swallow reflexively.

Pushing this problem from her mind for the moment Sam inhaled deeply despite the resistance in her chest then pushed. Slowly the elevator slid open by a good foot. After reaching that goal she gasped and choked; the burning in her ribs, shoulders and spine seemed worse than it had before, every bone in her torso seemed to be screaming for attention. This wave of pain was far worse than anything she'd had before.

Sam didn't even realize she was still sitting there until she heard noises and voices high over head. There were people in the shaft and she wasn't about to let them catch her. Quickly Sam slid her legs out through the opening and then pushed the rest of her body out. She fell a short distance to the floor and quickly climbed to her feet.

She was in a small room, like a security room. On one side was the elevator; on the other was a large metal door with an LED screen next to it.

_Enter Authorization Code_

_1-2-3-4-5_

_6-7-8-9-0_

_A-B-C-D-E_

Samantha looked more closely at the panel. The idea nagged at her that she should enter something, probably the childish temptation to push buttons. She reached out a finger, paused, and then pressed the B.

The blue letter obediently turned green. Sam bit her lip and pressed the seven, trying to remember the badge number from one of the aids. The seven also lit from blue to green. Three, four and nine did the same. She hit the D key and hoped she hadn't forgotten anything. Her thumb brushed over a little blue line on the bottom of the screen and the entire screen lit up. In response to whatever code she had entered the large metal door slid open.

The room on the other side was dark. Sam slowly stepped out into the room and lights flashed on. She quickly jumped back into the smaller room, waiting to see who had turned on the lights.

When nobody came after several minutes the lights went out again. Samantha stepped back through the door, the lights came on again. Motion sensitive lights; Sam would have smiled at her foolishness if the situation were different. Instead she proceeded into this new place.

The larger room was almost like a garage but no normal garage held vehicles like this. Some of them looked like rocket propelled sleds, big ones, others were contraptions that looked like some kind of battle suit and were easily four or five times taller than Sam and there were other machines of huge proportion that Sam had no idea what they would do. Most of them were still being built; parts were strewn across the floor in a manner that Sam's father would have described as 'organized chaos'.

Sam picked her way through the parts and tools lying around the floor. She wasn't sure where she was going, or even if there was another way out, but she had to keep going. Whatever forward held Sam was sure it couldn't be as bad as what she was leaving behind.

About halfway through the room Sam had to step over a pile of scraps and parts. As she started to she slipped on something and crashed to the floor with a grunt. The pain she had been trying to ignore flared up with a vengeance.

Minutes passed before the pain eased just enough to let Sam pull herself up to a sitting position. She looked down at what had caused her to slip and was horrified. There was blood streaked across the floor like some kind of sick horror movie. It was her own. The cuts from the robot's bite must have been bleeding the entire time Sam had been walking. She didn't know how she didn't notice until now.

Staring at the blood introduced a myriad of new concerns: infection, blood loss, slipping again and even being tracked by the trail she was leaving. Her injured leg had to be covered and it had to be covered immediately. Sam looked around for a clean cloth or anything that could be used and didn't see anything. When she shifted positions to look in another direction she felt cloth that she already had on her person, the hospital robe.

Looking down at the pale, damp and nearly sheer cloth Sam felt her years of Catholic school and good upbringing rebel at the idea.

She pushed the idea from her mind and tried to stand again only to slip and fall once more. "Fine!" Sam shouted at the room in general, "But I don't want to hear any complaints about this!" She felt foolish shouting at the empty room, even if her words were more or less intended for somebody to hear. Without allowing herself another thought Sam tried to reach behind her. The pain restricted her movement and she settled for seizing the front collar of the robe and jerking it forward, unsnapping the neck and tearing off the first tie. After that she carefully slipped out of the robe and wiped off her feet before tying the cloth around her leg.

That taken care of Sam stood again, this time successfully. She shivered and avoided looking down at her front for fear of embarrassing herself.

One the far wall there was a control panel of some sort. It held an important looking lever in addition to some kind of mike system and the regulatory anonymous buttons. Without even stopping to examine it for its purpose or intention Sam reached out and grabbed the lever. It took a little force, but she managed to pull it back until a nerve shattering clank echoed through the room. A strangely muted rumbling accompanied the moving of a section of wall. The resulting opening was large enough for one of the battle suit things to fit through.

Sam stared at the opening dumbly until she reminded herself that forward was better and moved towards the space. She missed seeing the lever slowly begin to return to its previous position.

On the other side of the gap in the wall Sam found a large tunnel. The air in there was damp and stank horribly. Stone tunnel extended on either side of her and a small trickle of water ran across the floor.

"The…sewers?" Sam asked. In reply to her inquiry the panel of wall behind her slid back into place. The light in the tunnel had been completely provided by that open spot and as soon as it was sealed Sam was left in complete darkness.

This presented new problems. In order to avoid being hopelessly lost in these tunnels until she starved to death Sam had to find a way back to the streets. She needed a way to determine direction despite the dark. Sam closed her eyes and reconstructed what she had seen before the darkness had been complete.

The water! The direction of the water flow could guide her back to civilization. All she had to do was determine which direction it was flowing in and move uphill until she found its source.

Samantha slid her feet across the floor until one foot encountered cold water. She used this foot to block the flow and waited. After several minutes she was sure that it was pooling up on her right. That was the direction she moved in.

* * *

Yep, she's in the sewers, in a ninja turtles fanfic, your patience shall soon be rewarded.

Reviews please!


	11. Critical mass

I do not own Karai, Baxter Stockman, Dr. Chaplin, Oroku Saki or any evil kitchen appliances.

* * *

Chapter eleven; Critical mass.

* * *

Karai lifted one of the mousers from her desk. All three of the robots' remains were on her desk. The one Karai held had been struck by an elevator cable and disabled. The second one had been stabbed by something. The third had been detached from the elevator's pulley system and was no longer recognizable as a mouser.

All three were now part of the investigation into the elevator crash. Stockman was furious that he was not immediately given his mousers back but that was his issue. Karai's issue was the video feed currently playing on the monitor of her computer.

On her computer a green, biped experiment darted across the bay where prototype machines for the Shredder were constructed. The experiment escaped out into the sewers on Karai's screen before the clip replayed, the experiment came out of the elevator and examined the LED screen…

What bothered Karai was how…different this experiment seemed from the other experiments Stockman churned out. This one was clearly intelligent and there was something else familiar about her - it.

Putting the mouser back on her desk Karai turned to the computer and started digging into the system. Her authorization tore past any security checks and unauthorized firewalls were easily passed thanks to a program provided by the eager to please Dr. Chaplin. After nearly an hour of searching and hacking Karai finally found what she was looking for. It did not make her happy. Not happy at all.

* * *

Oroku Saki was not happy, not happy at all. His foot ninja had failed to gain entry into a simple civilian apartment. It had been months and still they could not get inside one simple, unsecured building. Saki swore that if he did not get that disk soon heads would roll, quite literally.

If those freaks had not intervened he would have the disk already…

"Mr…Saki?" Somebody asked. Oroku Saki looked up at the man facing him, pen and paper in hand with a small recording device on the table in front of him. "Mr. Saki if this is a bad time I could come back later." The reporter said.

"No, my apologies. I was temporarily distracted by a pressing matter. You were saying about the school?" Saki quickly covered.

"Yes, my paper would like to know if the donation you gave to the school was at all related to the girl who disappeared a few months ago." The reporter smiled, admiration gleaming in his eyes. "But I think I have my answer."

Saki nodded solemnly, giving every impression of suffering lingering concern over the girl's fate. What was her name again? It didn't matter. Her body was long gone by now.

* * *

Baxter Stockman pounded on the keys of his keyboard angrily. He was so close! The experiment was nearly complete and his test subject escapes! Just as he had been about to launch a search for the girl hordes of security personnel swarm her escape route trying to figure out what had happened to a stupid elevator! While Stockman desperately wanted his experiment back he couldn't risk Saki finding out that the girl he had ordered dead was still alive.

Stockman reluctantly turned to one of his other projects, hoping to kill time until he could go searching for his experiment. As he worked he was shaken out of his forced sense of concentration when an identical alert appeared on every monitor of his lab. He quickly checked to see what the cause was. A smile spread across his face as his eyes followed the information rapidly being transmitted to his screen.

He wheeled over to the room where the lab rats were kept. Stockman watched in delight as the animals twitched violently against the mutation taking hold in their bodies. The accelerating agent he had infused in the rats and the girl had just reached critical mass. This was forcing the genetic material to produce living, altered tissues at a rate that was actually visible to the naked eye!

At that moment Stockman's only regret was that the girl had escaped before he could see the climax of the mutation take place.

* * *

Something scampered past Sam in the dark. She swallowed and continued forward, hopefully the more rats and cockroaches she heard the closer she was to the surface.

From time to time the tunnels branched off into other tunnels. Sam carefully made sure to keep following the flow of water uphill. From time to time there was an overhead light bulb or something but for the most part Sam traveled in darkness. One hand trailed along the rough stone walls while the other used the ax as a cane.

The pain was worse now. Every breath fought to draw air, then resisted the movement exhaling brought. Every step was slow, but Sam kept going. She was scared that if she stopped she wouldn't be able to keep going. Her mind felt fuzzy, as if normal thinking was being blurred by the sheer force that the pain brought with it. If she took a break Sam was sure that she would give in and lose consciousness. Instead she kept putting one step in front of the other.

She would get to the surface. Then she would get to a hospital. They would fix her. The cops would go after Stockman and everything would be alright. If she just kept going everything would be alright.

Everything would be alright.

Everything would be…

* * *

Samantha never felt herself hit the ground.

* * *


	12. Fluffy White Clouds

I do not own the nameless characters that almost make an appearance here

* * *

Chapter thirteen; Fluffy White Clouds

* * *

"Miss Gelding! Just what do you have to say for yourself! You haven't turned in any of the assignments!" Sam blinked up at Sister Abigail.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't do the work I was…" She stopped. Where was she?

"You were being slothful Miss Gelding!" The nun scolded her.

"I was _not_!" Sam jumped up in indignation. Snickers of laughter broke out around her and grew steadily worse. She looked down and realized in horror that she was still wearing the hospital gown, but how? Samantha was sure she had changed out of it, she knew she had when, when…

When?

"Miss Gelding if you cannot be bothered to wear descent clothing much less the proper school uniform then I suggest you head home."

All Sam could do was blush and leave the classroom, followed by the students' laughter.

Sam hurried over to her locker and grabbed the combination lock. After two wrong attempts she pulled the lock off and jerked the locker open. She was so mad and embarrassed she told herself she would never come back to this school. Samantha grabbed her track uniform and slammed the door shut. Standing behind the door was Travis.

"Travis! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?" her little brother looked down and when he looked back up again his face was streaked with tears and bright red, the way it always got when he cried.

"Where were you Sam?" He demanded.

"I'm right here." Sam knelt down to Travis's level. She was as confused by his behavior as she was his presence at her school.

"You never came home!" He insisted, "I waited but you never came home!" He looked so hurt and betrayed Sam was sure she would start crying herself.

"I'm back now Travis! I'm back! Everything will be alright!" Sam tried to pull him into a hug but he backed away.

"You never came home!"

"Travis, wait. Let me explain!"

"You never came home!" Travis yelled one last time. He turned and ran from her. Sam tried to chase after him but she suddenly felt so heavy. She couldn't get up off the floor.

The floor was rough and cold. It was also damp and stank badly, like when the boy's bathroom had flooded. Something furry brushed past Sam and she tried to get away, but she couldn't move.

She couldn't move, her arms were pinned to her side and she couldn't move, "Daddy!" She laughed, "Put me down! I wanna swim!" Sam didn't really care if her dad put her down or not, but her friends were watching and she had to act more grown up. Grownups and teenagers didn't cuddle. Her dad laughed and dropped her into the lake.

The water was cold, so cold.

Fur brushed against her skin again. Something warm and furry pulled on her arm and side until she rolled onto her back. Wood started to slide across her palm and Sam clutched the handle tighter, wouldn't let go, wouldn't let go for the world. She held on tight, but the handle still slipped away.

The wood tickled her hand as she let it go. "Run Kelly! Run!" Sam cheered as Kelly took the baton and ran for all she was worth.

"Look out!" Somebody yelled. A runner crashed into Sam from behind and they both hit the ground in a heap. The track coach ran over and checked the kid who was now in Sam's lap. The girl looked up dazed and the coach checked her eyes and felt her forehead.

"It appears that you have a bad fever." He sighed, "I cannot leave you here alone." Sam squinted at the coach. _Alone?_ She thought, _But I'm with her._ She blinked and squinted again, the coach was a dark, blurry. Everything was. Somebody gripped Sam's wrist and pulled her into a sitting position, there was pressure on her chest.

"It's too tight!" Sam complained.

"That's because it's a girdle Samantha!" Her mother laughed, pulling the straps tighter still, "And remember, women used to tie them a lot tighter than this."

"Ugh, how did they breathe?"

"Simple, they didn't." Sam felt the girdle being jerked behind her as her mother tied it off without letting it loosen any.

"With all this junk how were they supposed to get dressed?"

"With maids, or sisters or," One last jerk and a pat on the shoulder, "With their mother's help."

Sam smiled and looked over her shoulder as her mother pulled out the next layer of clothing. Her mom wore a beautiful ice blue gown that was just stunningly beautiful, but then again her mom had that effect on clothing. "Mom?"

"What is it Sam?" Mrs. Gelding asked.

"Next time some eccentric cousin wants us to come to her theme wedding…"

"What?"

"Tell her I've got the mumps." Sam's mom laughed and slipped the dress over her head.

The cloth was softer than it looked, and it smelled vaguely of fabric softener. It slid off her shoulders as someone lifted her to a sitting position. They kept their arm behind their back and put a glass to her lips. "Drink." Sam drank and almost choked. She hated tea, but right now anything wet in her throat felt good.

"The lemon will make your throat feel better and the honey is so it doesn't taste so bad." Sam told Travis. He wrinkled his nose skeptically, but drained the cup anyway. Footsteps in the hallway made Sam hurry back to bed.

The footsteps came into her room, "I have the IV setup." Somebody said, it had to be a doctor, Sam hoped it was a good doctor, if he did anything to hurt Travis…

Cold, callused hands lifted Sam's arm. A needle was pressed into her skin. "NO!" Her eyes shot open and she fought against the aids with all of her strength. She would not allow anymore infusions!

"You said she was in a 'weakened condition'!" One of the aids growled. Weight pressed down on Sam's stomach and chest. An aid held her shoulders while another grabbed her legs through the blanket.

"She was! Hand me that syringe…there!" A moment later Sam felt another needle enter her shoulder. "Hold her still."

"Easier said than done!"

"Sam? Samantha!" Sam turned to find Travis waiting for her, "Come on!" He grinned, "And remember; I get to pick the pizza tonight"…

* * *

PLEASE REVIEW! This was a very hard chapter!


	13. Strangest of Strangers

I do not own the TMNT or related characters and themes.

* * *

Chapter fourteen; Strangest of Strangers

* * *

Samantha realized that she was being held up again. "Drink." A gentle male voice encouraged. A glass pressed against Sam's lips and she opened her mouth. She tasted milk and almost smiled, the people at the lab had never given her milk.

"Well what do ya' know?" Another male said; this one rough and younger. "She's finally drinkin' again."

"Yes, this is good." The glass emptied and was taken away. Sam was gently lowered back onto the bed.

"Think she'll wake up soon?"

"I do not know, perhaps."

Sam opened her eyes slowly. They felt like sandpaper and everything was blurry. She blinked until things started to clear up and looked over to where the voices were. Two individuals stood talking about something. Sam blinked some more. Two _strange _individuals. One looked like a giant, walking and- yes- talking turtle. The other Sam wasn't so sure about, but she thought it looked like a giant rat; wearing a robe no less.

_I can't handle this yet._ Sam thought before falling back to sleep.

* * *

When Sam awoke again she was alone in the room. She lay still, mentally looking for the crippling pain that had been present before she lost consciousness. The only pain she felt was a mad itching on the leg that the robot had cut up. Carefully Sam sat up and pulled back the blankets. Her leg was bandaged from ankle to knee. The clean white bandage almost seemed to glow against Sam's mottled green skin.

As she sat up she felt a slight pressure on her chest. Her front was covered by something hard and pale. Whatever it was it covered her about as well as a one piece swimsuit. She figured it was probably a brace of some kind. Her stomach and back had hurt so much before and now the pain was replaced by a vague numbness that confused her. Hopefully it was some kind of pain killer medication.

Sam pushed off the blankets and stood up. She noticed for the first time an IV stuck into her wrist. Carefully Sam pulled the tape off and removed the catheter; there would be no more infusions for her. Using one hand to put pressure on the puncture in her skin and the other to brace herself against a wall Sam moved clumsily closer to the door.

A giant turtle hurried through the door and was clearly surprised to see her up and about. He told her so, "EAAH!"

Sam gasped and stumbled back, something pulled her off balance and she fell to the floor, her back hit the bed frame but the brace thing protected her. The turtle's eyes grew wide behind the orange mask he wore and he stepped forward. "Careful! Donnie says your shell's kinda' soft right now." He reached down and helped Sam to her feet.

"I, I, you that is um... You're a," Sam replied brilliantly. His hand felt different, she looked down and saw that he had two fingers and a thumb," I... uh…" She had _thought_ the turtle she had seen earlier was another delusion. She had _hoped_ it was a delusion. The existence of big, big, walking, talking _turtles_ just called too much into question. It was almost easier to believe she was losing her grip.

The turtle grinned, his mouth was _huge_. "Yep! I'm a turtle, just like you!"

"You….turtle…sure…makes…what do you mean just like me?" Sam finally asked. His grin grew bigger and he turned around, showing off his brown shell like it answered everything.

Sam stared for a moment, and then tried to get a look at her own back. Something tan was sticking up slightly over her shoulder. What was _that?! _All of this was too mauch to take in. Questions flooded her mind as her breathing accelerated to a dangerous rate. What had Stockman done to her? Was she sick? Was this turtle Stockman's work too? Was she just being held until Stockman came? Above all what was going on?! This didn't make sense! It wasn't possible! What had happened?!

"Uh-oh…DONNIE!" Sam had already tuned the turtle out, she was staring at her chest trying to get a better look at what she had thought was a brace. She ran her hands over it and felt several stiff sections covering her chest and stomach.

"What is it Mikey…She's awake!" The sound of her own rapid breathing flooded her ears as her hand slid over to her side. She felt a tough but smooth and flexible substance that seemed to connect the front to the back of her…shell?! The turtle had said shell earlier! What was that supposed to mean?!

"I think she's hyperventilating!" Sam's vision was getting fuzzy. Hands grabbed her wrists and gently pulled them in front of her. Sam looked down; her gaze followed the furry hands clutching her wrists up until she was looking into the eyes of the rat she had thought was also a delusion.

"Listen to me…" The rat said. Sam tried, but it was hard, "You must calm down," He told her in his soft, gentle voice. "Try and tell me your name."

"I…uh…" Sam swallowed hard, "Samantha." She could hear her voice shaking and scratch badly but her breathing began to return to normal as she listened to him talk and tried to focus on his voice.

"Miss Samantha, I found you lying in the tunnels deathly ill. Whatever may have happened to you before; you are now with friends and we wish to help you but you must calm down. Do you understand?"

Sam nodded slowly; she took a deep, slow breath and forced the panic from her mind. Panic hadn't helped her at the lab it wouldn't help her here. "Yes." She finally answered.

"Good." The rat placed Sam's hands on her lap. They itched with the need to hold something so she clasped them together, wondering what had happened to the ax. "Now, once you have had something to eat and drink, it would seem that there are explanations in order." She nodded.

Sam rubbed her eyes and tried to get a more firm grasp of herself. Slowly she pushed her worries and fears down, once again shoving them aside until an unknown later date.

Now that she was in better control of herself, Sam noticed that three other turtles had come into the room without her noticing. She hoped there weren't any more of them. She couldn't take any more strangeness. Heck, she couldn't even take this much.

"I, I'm sorry. Thank you." The rat nodded in understanding.

He glanced over his shoulder to one of the turtles staring at Sam, "Michelangelo, I believe our guest is hungry." The turtle in question didn't move. "Michelangelo!" The rat ordered a little louder.

The turtle flinched, "Food, right, my department." He smiled and ran out the door.

* * *

Okay, so turning Sam into a mutant turtle-girl wasn't terribly original. But if you think about it, what other species would Stockman experiment with? Rats? Maybe, but then what would he use for test animals? If it makes you happy I forsake all ownership of female mutant turtles! Sam's personality and what happens to her are still mine but her mutation is not!

Please review.


	14. Introductions and Discovery

I do not own the TMNT or related themes and characters.

* * *

Chapter fifteen; Introductions and Discovery

* * *

The turtle returned in a surprisingly short amount of time with an impossible amount of food balanced on his arms and hands, a large pitcher with cups was balanced on his head.

"Mikey!" One of the other turtles jumped up and took the pitcher off the first turtle's head.

The first turtle grinned again as he announced, "Soup's on! Grab it or starve!" He winked at Sam and placed a large plate of sandwiches and chips on the bed next to Sam. "Except for the pretty young miss." Sam flushed. She wasn't sure whether or not he was just being nice or making fun of her, there was no way she fit the description of 'pretty' right now.

The smell of roasted ham reached her nose and her stomach suddenly remembered what hunger was. It remembered loudly. The mutants smiled or snickered as Sam flushed darker. The rat merely smiled. "Please, eat your fill and I will tell you of how we, my sons and I, came to be."

Sam obediently lifted a sandwich off her plate and took a bite. It was absolutely delicious, but after the food she had been given in the lab anything without that nasty chalky taste in it was delicious. Her stomach demanded more and she was more than happy to oblige.

The turtle with the purple mask leaned over and whispered something to the turtle who had brought the food. The orange masked turtle rolled his eyes, "Yes Donnie, I put veggies in her sandwiches…yuck." That seemed to satisfy the curious turtle.

"Now." The rat said. All four turtles quickly sat down on the floor around the rat. "My name is Hamato Splinter. Many years ago…" He was a good story teller. His style and voice were easy and enjoyable to follow. As for the turtles, they sat with expressions on their faces much like the ones on Travis's and Sam's when their parents told stories that they had heard hundreds of times before but still wanted to hear again. At some point the orange banded turtle interrupted but he was quickly shushed by his brothers, who didn't want to miss anything.

When the rat, Splinter- no…Master Splinter (how did a rat earn a title?) told Sam about teaching his sons ninjitsu Samantha was confused. "The way of the ninja." He kindly explained when he saw her confusion. Sam doubted they were related to the ninja that had first kidnapped her, but the idea still made her nervous.

Finally, in grand story-teller fashion, Master Splinter finished his story by introducing his adopted sons.

"Leonardo," The blue masked turtle nodded.

"Donatello," The turtle in purple waved, smiling almost shyly.

"Michelangelo,"

"Hey there!" Michelangelo grinned and pointed at himself, a complete ham.

"…and Raphael."

The turtle with the red mask grabbed Michelangelo's mouth and held it shut, "Sup'." He greeted her. The family looked at her expectantly.

"Uh, nice to meet you." Sam managed stiffly. "I guess I should tell you about me now huh?"

"Totally." Michelangelo flopped down beside her on the bed, "Your likes, your dislikes, your IM name, are you an Aquarius?" He took her hand in his and gave her a cheesy grin. Sam stared at him.

"Can it Mikey." The red masked turtle, Raphael, grabbed his brother by the tails coming off of his mask and pulled Mikey off Sam.

"If you could, simply explain how you came to be where Master Splinter found you." Leonardo asked. He looked very serious, but Sam didn't miss how he kept looking to his father.

"Leo! No way!" Michelangelo grinned from his restrained position on the floor, "She's got to tell a story for a story! So make it good!" His playful attitude was actually helping Sam to relax.

"I'll try." She assured him. Sam paused to collect her thoughts, as she did so the turtles settled down and looked at her expectantly. "My name is Samantha Gelding." Donatello's eyes widened but he didn't interrupt. "Before all this got started I had a normal, if boring, life. Catholic school, nuclear family, pretty boring. One day, I'm not sure how long ago it was right now, but I was on my way home from school when somebody grabbed me…"

"…I must have passed out at some point." Sam finished. She had told the story in nearly full detail, every time she tried to glaze over part of it the turtles and sometimes even Master Splinter would encourage her to explain more fully.

They mulled over what Sam had just told them. "That would explain why you panicked when Don stuck you with a needle." Raphael said.

"I'm sorry about that." No she wasn't. Sam was certain she would never allow another needle into her skin, but Donatello seemed a nice enough guy so he deserved an apology.

The quiet turtle smiled. "Perfectly understandable, but I have a question I need you to elaborate on."

"What do you want to know?"

"You said your name was Samantha _Gelding_? As in G-E-L-D-I-N-G?" He asked. Sam nodded. "By any chance did you get a ride the week before your abduction from Oroku Saki?" The others stared at Donatello like he had lost his mind. They shifted their vaguely horrified expressions to Sam when she answered;

"Yeah, I did. How did you know that?" Sam hadn't mentioned it; she didn't think it was pertinent information. Heck, it didn't even feel all that special to her after all she had been through since then. How did a car ride with a wealthy business man measure up to sitting and talking with _mutants_?

"Samantha, just how long do you think you've been missing?" Donatello asked gently.

"I don't know, at least a month, maybe more." Time had lost its meaning for her in the lab.

Donatello frowned, his brow knit and wrinkled the mask over his eyes. "Sam, you were on the news! You've been missing almost eleven weeks now, including the four days since we first found you!"

"That's impossible." There was no way Sam had been missing more than a few weeks. She didn't remember that much, and besides that; girls had a certain methods of measuring a month.

Then again, she had spent an awful lot of time unconscious. And her cell hadn't exactly had a clock and calendar. As for the monthly measurement; who's to say that her body didn't change more than just externally? There had been a lot of internal pain and a lot of the tests…

"That's impossible." Sam repeated. Her mind spun and she stared at her hands. They were as green as they had been for, for how long Sam wasn't sure.

What did they do to her?

As the reality of Donatello's words sunk in Sam covered her face with her hands. She could feel differences in its shape from what she was used to but had not had the opportunity to find a mirror yet. In all this confusion only one thought remained clear.

All Sam wanted to do was get home.

She had to get home.

* * *

Please review.


	15. Grande Tour

I do not own anything in the following chapter except Sam.

* * *

Chapter fifteen: Grande Tour.

* * *

"When can I go home?"

At that moment in time Mikey would rather deal with a ticking nuclear warhead in the kitchen than answer this girl's question. She didn't get it, she really didn't understand! How could you tell a girl who had just been sick after undergoing what she had gone through 'Gee, sorry, but like they say, you can't go home again!'

Master Splinter was also at a loss for words while Leo and Raph both looked distinctly uncomfortable. Then there was good old Donnie. "Samantha, you've been sick, really sick for a long time now. I think you need a couple more days rest at least."

Sam nodded vaguely, although she didn't seem to like what he was saying. In the uncomfortable silence that followed Mikey suddenly got an idea, "But hey! While you're here, why don't I give you the grande tour!" He stepped over beside Samantha and held out an arm like a gentleman. She slowly stood up and hesitantly accepted the extended arm. As Mikey half led, half helped her out of the room he started the tour by announcing "Normally I charge big bucks and expect a reservation in advance, but since I have an opening about now anyway…"

Once they were out of sight and out of hearing Donnie heaved a huge sigh of relief while Master Splinter rubbed at the headache forming between his eyes.

"You were right Leo." Raph said, "Mikey isn't completely useless."

"She's going to have to find out sooner or later." Leo said.

Master Splinter stood up and moved to the door. He could see Michelangelo excitedly explaining the intricacies of why Donatello's lab was a dangerous place to their guest. "I do not believe she will accept the fact if we explain it to her." He said.

"What!" Raphael was stunned.

"What do you mean sensei?" Leonardo asked.

"Miss Gelding has been through much. If we were to explain to her the need to hide from those on the surface rather than face the truth of her altered identity Miss Gelding may force herself to believe that we mean to imprison her here."

Michelangelo had moved to the monitoring area where he was clearly bragging about his battle nexus trophy.

"But why would anyone do somethin' like that?" Raphael asked.

Samantha stared at the trophy for a moment, she must have said something because Michelangelo seemed to deflate in his shell. He quickly recovered and led the way to the next part of the tour

"Think about it Raph." Donnie explained, "In order for Samantha to have gotten through what the foot and Stockman did to her and still have the will to fight back and escape she must have had something to keep her going all that time. If that something is her family and we tell her she can't go home, it could result in a complete mental breakdown!"

"But she seemed to handle both our existence and her own mutation about as well as April did." Leo objected.

"If ya switch fainting a couple of times with a panic attack." Raph muttered.

Master Splinter shook his head. "Miss O' Neil came to terms with our existence shortly after we first met. Miss Gelding only appears to have done so. Her calm demeanor is little more than a convenient mask she wears to protect herself."

* * *

Samantha followed the excitable turtle around his home, the 'lair'. He happily pointed out different point of interest while Sam carefully took note of anything that might be useful.

She wasn't stupid. From the reaction the mutants had to her wanting to go home it was clear that they intended to keep her here. If they wanted to talk with her out of the room, then she was perfectly fine with that, but if they thought anything was going to keep her from going home they had a lot more to learn about Sam.

"These big door thingies led to the elevator! Look! Motion sensors!" He stepped closer to the doors and they opened. He offered her a ride and she quickly declined; she had had more than enough of elevators lately. Mikey shrugged and continued the tour.

It was probably a good idea to stay and rest for a little while. She could already feel exhaustion creeping up on her, but as soon as she was feeling a little better Sam was out of there!

* * *

"And this is our guest bedroom, currently being occupied by our guest; the lovely Samantha Gelding!" Mikey finished. By now Master Splinter and his bros had moved their conversation elsewhere so that Sam could have the room to herself.

"Now that we have reached the closing portion of the tour please feel free to let the staff know if there is anything you need!"

Sam had to smile at this guy, she was sure that even Travis on a sugar high couldn't keep up with Mikey. "Thanks, but I think I have everything I need."

"Of course m' lady, but should you need anything at all just call me…unless it's _really_ late in which case you should call Raphie. He might not get you anything but it should be entertaining!"

Again Sam had to smile. She gave her head a little shake, "Thanks." As the turtle jogged off to his own room (which he had shown her every last hidden corner of) Sam stepped into the guest room. Tiredly she ran her fingers through her tangled hair and swore to cut the entire mop off first chance she got before she crawled into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Poor Mikey, most humans don't know what the Battle Nexus is; maybe some other girl wants to see his trophy. Any takers?

Please review.


	16. Check up

I do not own the TMNT.

* * *

Chapter sixteen; Checkup

* * *

Cold air drifted over Sam's skin. There was light drifting into her field of vision despite the fact that she was lying on her stomach. Panic and pain boiled in her throat as she jolted to an upright position.

Stone walls, not white walls. The lair may not be her home, but at least it wasn't the lab.

Looking around the small room Sam noticed a basket on the dresser. Curious she stood up and got a closer look. On top there was a note.

_The staff here at Turtle Lair would like to present you with this complimentary gift basket._

_Sincerely,_

_Mikey  
_

Sam smiled and looked in the basket. Wonders of wonders there was a towel, soap, a brush and comb as well as some pretty smelling shampoo; simple staples to other people, amazing luxuries to Sam. She almost started to cry before she heard a small clearing of throat from her door.

Mikey, Donatello and Leonardo stood in the doorway. Excitement and pleasure at having done a job well done seemed to drip off of Mikey. Behind him Leonardo kept one hand on the excited turtle like an owner keeping a leash on their excited puppy. Donatello seemed amused at his brothers' antics. "Good morning." He greeted Sam.

Sam nodded her eyes still slightly moist. "Good morning. And, and thank you!" She gestured towards the small basket.

Mikey smiled. "No problem! I just thought you might need some things and Casey won't miss the shampoo." Sam didn't know who this Casey girl was, but considering the shampoo she had good taste.

The throat cleared a second time, it was Donatello. "If it's not a bad time, I'd like to change your bandage." He held up a white box with a red cross painted on it.

"It's not a bad time." Sam assured him.

As Donatello came in Sam heard Leonardo, "Okay Mikey, you got to see her reaction, now I believe we have some training to do." Mikey groaned as he followed his brother.

Sam followed Donatello's gesture and sat on the bed with the bandaged leg up in front of her. Donatello quickly, but gently began to remove the bandage. "So, um…" Sam tried to think of something to say. "Looks like you paid more attention in first-aid than I did."

Donatello smiled. "Yeah, you could say that." He finished removing the cotton wrap, "Let me know if this hurts." He instructed.

Slowly he peeled off the gauze pads. Sam bit her lip as the gauze tugged on the sore spots a little. She was surprised to see how much damage there was. There were at least three long cuts that somebody, presumably Donatello, had sewn together and there were several others that looked almost nasty enough to get sewn up. She wondered why it didn't hurt more.

"Okay. Now I warn you, this stuff stings a lot." He opened the box and pulled out a bottle and some more gauze pads. After opening the bottle he tilted some of its contents and started dabbing it onto one of the cuts. It fizzed loudly but only stung a little.

"Hydrogen peroxide." Sam noted.

Donatello nodded, focusing on his work. "Yeah, some medical experts prefer not to use it because it's been shown to slow tissue regeneration." He carefully poured a little more onto the gauze, "But the benefits of its mechanical action and infection control vastly outweigh what little deficits it does have."

"Not to mention the price is right." Sam added.

Donatello looked up, "The price is right?" He asked.

Sam blushed, "Yeah, one of the girls in my social finances class did a presentation on different products that were made so popular because they're cheap. Hydrogen peroxide was one of her examples."

"So you're into business." Donatello noted. "Enjoy the subject?"

"Yes." Sam nodded, "Someday I want to open a financial advisory office and start getting involved in all sorts of uprising industries. Who knows, I might even get as good at it as Oroku Saki!"

At the pure hero worship in Sam's voice at the name Oroku Saki Donatello choked and accidentally spilled some of the disinfectant directly onto Sam's leg. She hissed slightly as the fizzing seemed to cut right down to the bone. "Oops, sorry!" He quickly dabbed it up.

"It's no problem, really." Sam assured him, "Just caught me by surprise." Donnie nodded, suddenly absorbed in his own thoughts.

There were several minutes of silence until Donnie pulled out a tube and started gently applying the cream on the cuts. "This should keep everything soft and moist to help the healing process." He explained, "If all goes well there should be minimal scarring. Sam nodded, watching him start wrapping her leg again.

As he taped the wrap down he started to look uncomfortable. "Well, uh. I should probably look at your, uh…" He cleared his throat, "Would it be alright if I checked your, uh, shell?"

Sam blinked. "My what?"

"Your, uh, shell?" Donnie repeated. He didn't want to upset her, but he needed to make sure it was still healthy.

"Yeah, sure." Sam casually turned around. Donnie was surprised, but quickly looked closer at her carapace. It was darker today than it had been yesterday. He ran his hand over the shell and noted that it was in fact harder and the pattern was coming in nicely.

Sam jumped slightly and Don jerked his hand back. "Sorry!" He apologized compulsively.

"No problem, it's just…I didn't think anything could be felt through that."

Don smiled slightly, "Some vibrations are transferred through." He explained. Sam nodded. Donnie continued his examination of her shell, mentally noting with surprise how well she was taking this, he'd expected that she wouldn't want to acknowledge the shell at all.

* * *

Samantha didn't really understand the need to keep the shell healthy. The way she saw things it was only a matter of time before she could get to the hospital and get the thing removed. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that the doctors would be able to fix what was wrong with her. Take the shell off, fix whatever made her skin green with some kind of drug and hope that her body hair would grow back. The doctors could fix this and Sam would be back to normal in no time.

She just had to be.

* * *

Sorry Sam, I don't think it'll be that easy.

Okay, enough wasting time...back to the plot!

Please Review.


	17. Who says you can't go back?

I do not own the TMNT or related themes and characters.

* * *

Chapter seventeen; Who says you can't go back?

* * *

"Ninety-nine, one-hundred." Sam counted as she pulled the brush through her hair. She had indulged herself by taking a hot shower and now that her hair was dry she carefully brushed it out. Although it had been difficult to shower and keep the bandage on her leg dry, the feeling of cleanliness she now had was absolutely delicious!

After having brushed her hair out till it fluffed out slightly Sam considered what to do next. While thinking she sat down on the bed. Her leg brushed against something and Sam jumped to her feet before it broke. It was a screwdriver and from the look of it, it had been well used. Donatello had several tools shoved in that belt of his; this one must have fallen out while he was checking on Sam.

Sam picked it up and went to return the screwdriver to its rightful owner.

As Sam approached Donatello's and Leonardo's room she heard voices softly talking within. She was about to knock when Sam distinctly heard her name. Instead of alerting those inside to her presence she leaned closer to the door.

"_Listen Donnie, I ain't the kind of guy who'd want to hurt no girl, but she's got to know!_"

"_She'll figure it out soon enough. Raph, give her time._"

"_How much time? Donnie she's gettin' stronger, what happens when tellin' her 'you need to rest' doesn't work no more?_"

Sam frowned, what was that supposed to mean?

"_But if we tell her the truth she'll panic and leave anyway, and much sooner! We can't have her running off!_"

"_And what do you think would eventually happen if we don't tell 'er why she really can't go home?_"

Sam's eyes narrowed and her resolve hardened as she stepped away from the door.

She _was_ going home.

Tonight.

* * *

Dr. Baxter Stockman rubbed his hand unconsciously. The missing fingers sometimes gave off phantom pains that rivaled the pain from the stubs; but that was a minor concern.

More importantly right now was the fact that the elevator was fixed and the tower's resources were being put into other matters. For the moment no one was really paying attention to Baxter Stockman, which meant that he could begin searching for his little run-away experiment.

Some weeks into the procedures Stockman had realized that he was pouring thousands of dollars of research into that girl, a rather large investment. In order to place a certain amount of insurance into his investment Stockman implanted a tracking device into the girl. There had been far too much risk when the full investigation and reconstruction were taking place around the elevator, but now he could activate the device remotely and safely retrieve his experiment.

It wasn't hard; just push a few buttons and presto! A small red blip began blinking on the screen. The signal wasn't very exact, the girl had wandered into the tunnels after all, but the signal would grow stronger as any tracking devices drew closer.

* * *

Master Splinter's sensitive ears twitched as they picked up the faintest rumblings from the subways somewhere overhead.

He had spent much of the afternoon in meditation trying to discover a way to help their guest. Miss Samantha Gelding was very worried about her family, which was perfectly understandable and to be expected; but she had not yet realized that at this point in time she could not return to them. It had been difficult to convince her she could not leave the lair yet, it would be even more difficult when she discovered that Splinter's sons left nearly every night.

There was something attracting the foot clan to a certain part of the city, the boys had even caught foot ninja attempting to break into an apartment building where human families lived. As much as Master Splinter wished for his sons to remain safe he had to agree that whatever the foot was planning had to be stopped.

These two problems danced around and around in Master Splinter's mind. How to help a girl who would not even consider that she may have lost everything she knew? And what might the Foot clan be planning that would drive them to break into families' homes?

Master Splinter shook his head and stood. He sighed as he lifted his walking stick and moved to the kitchen. Two such problems of this complexity would require more tea.

* * *

The lair was silent as Sam slipped out of her room. The lights were dimmed to represent night, but Sam's sleep cycle was still so out of whack from being in constant light that she wasn't tired. The turtles had all left only minutes ago and when they returned Sam planned to be long gone.

In the darkness her eyes traced the different landmarks in the lair: the bridge over the little pool, the monitoring area with its insane number of televisions, the kitchen, the dojo where the turtles trained and finally the main doors.

For a moment she had been tempted to actually risk the elevator, but her newfound fear of elevators easily argued her out of it. Her other option had been to return to the sewers and try to find her way back to the surface following them. This plan hadn't seemed like such a good idea until she heard the subway rumbling overhead. If the subway could be heard through the stone walls then the surface couldn't be too far!

Silently she crept over to the main door and examined it until she found what looked like a lever. Sam pulled the lever and the huge door slowly lifted up. Without looking back Sam ran out into the sewer tunnels.

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Please review.


	18. Sunlight

I do not own the TMNT or related themes and characters.

* * *

Chapter eighteen; Sunlight

* * *

These tunnels didn't stink as badly as the ones Sam had been in after escaping Stockman's lab. The air fresher, the water and the walls were warmer too. There was no doubt in Samantha's mind that she was close to the surface, and getting closer with every ladder she climbed. There were lights here too, so she wasn't stumbling around in the dark.

Sam climbed up another ladder and stopped, listening carefully. There was the rumbling; it couldn't be more than two levels above her although it was further to her side now. She looked around and decided to go right, not for any particular reason except she had gone left last time.

This tunnel didn't have any water running down the middle, but there were pipes overhead that hissed and creaked. The walls were cool, but not cold and the humidity was lower than it was in most of the tunnels. Sam figured it was probably more of a utility tunnel than a sewer tunnel. The best thing about this particular tunnel was the walls; they weren't worn stone bricks, but smooth concrete proving it to be more modern and more recently repaired. Although she didn't know it this small discovery made her smile in anticipation.

Sam turned a corner and froze. There were footsteps ahead of her. Quickly she looked around for a hiding spot. Seeing only the pipes overhead Sam jumped up and caught hold of one of the larger pipes. She pulled herself up with only a little trouble when her midsection refused to bend the way it used to.

Hidden on top of the pipes, Sam waited and watched. The footsteps sounded loud, like the person was heavy. A large shadow came into sight and Sam swallowed hard, hoping the owner wasn't really that big.

He wasn't. He was bigger! A huge creature walked past Sam's hiding place without even looking up. For an insane moment Sam wondered whether it was an alligator or a crocodile, then a more sane part of her mind screamed that it didn't matter! Alligator or crocodile it was walking on its hind feet! And it was huge! Huge didn't describe this thing it was gigantic!

And it was humming?

Up on her perch Sam felt like she had just about reached her limit for strangeness. Turtles, rats, alli- no crocs…whatever!- did not walk on their hind legs. They did not get to be this huge and they did not _hum_!

After the creature was out of sight Sam groaned and banged her head slightly against one of the pipes she rested on. Another solid bang on the pipes and Sam slid her legs down. She lowered herself until she was hanging by her hands and then dropped the short distance to the floor. She had to get out of this strangeness and back to the real world.

One last glance over her shoulder where the creature had gone and Sam was on her way again.

At an intersection of tunnels Sam paused and looked down all three options, left, right or straight ahead? She looked up and saw that most of the pipes went right so she followed them. Several yards ahead she found another ladder leading up and took it.

This new tunnel was warmer than any of the tunnels Sam had been in before. She could actually feel a little movement in the air! Excitement coursed through her veins and she started walking rapidly down the tunnel, then her walk turned to a jog and finally she was full out running. She slowed down to a hurried walk when she finally saw what she had been looking for all along, a ladder to the surface. Dust motes and floated in the rays of sun shining through the holes in the sewer lid. It was beautiful! Sam hurried over to the ladder and grabbed the first rung.

She stopped, her smile slowly slipped into a frown. One little sunbeam fell across the skin of Sam's hand, making the green coloring practically glow. She lifted her hand a little and the light highlighted her nails as they faded from their normal clear-ish white at the tips to the darker browny-green near her equally green cuticles. Lowering her arm made the sunbeam trace its way back over her hand, past her wrist and up her forearm where the coloring was darker.

Samantha had known in a way that her skin had changed. She had also been aware of the green, but there was something about the sunlight that made the whole thing more…_real_. In the lab she had been scared; convinced it was something in her liver or her immune system. But the sunlight on her skin…It didn't even _look_ like skin! There was something strangely opaque to it; she couldn't see the healthy pink from blood in her tissues. It was skin, but it wasn't human skin…and it was Sam's skin. And if Sam's skin wasn't human, then Samantha…

That foggy panicky feeling was coming back. Sam grabbed the ladder and used it to lower herself to the floor. She felt the resistance to movement in her middle again, the shell. The shell covered her entire back and most of her front and it was _part_ of her, it was her! Looking down, straight down, she could see where her skin almost melted into the bone covering her chest. She closed her eyes and tried not to let the panic take over again, but the alternative was painful chest wracking sobs. Sam fought both reactions but felt like she was losing both battles.

"Miss Gelding?" A furry hand was placed on Sam's shoulder. "Miss Gelding?" Another hand carefully pried her hand free of the metal ladder. Sam looked at the hand and again followed it to the face of its owner. Master Splinter's expression was gentle and understanding.

"I…" When Sam opened her mouth to speak she tasted hot salt water, her own tears. "I… I'm sorry." She tried to cover her face with her hands but he restrained her.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Master Splinter gently pulled Sam closer to him and wrapped her in a warm, fatherly embrace. He gently rubbed the back of her head as she cried.

_I can't go home. I really can't._

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Please review.


	19. Friendship and New

I do not own the TMNT

* * *

Chapter nineteen: Friendship and New

* * *

Travis stood in the corner of the playground trying to look inconspicuous. He failed.

"You're Travis Gelding, aren't you?" Travis narrowed his eyes as he turned to the bigger kid.

"Yeah, so?" He asked. His expression changed from one holding a slight threat to one of fear as soon as he saw the boy in front of him. The kid had to be twice Travis's size! More than that!

"My cousin goes to St. Christopher's. You know him, his name is Dominick." The kid said.

Travis swallowed nervously. The week before he had sent Dominick to the hospital with a broken nose, this had resulted in his expulsion from St. Christopher's. The kid who stood in front of him now was even bigger than Dominick and there was just something about him that just looked mean. "Really?" Travis asked. His voice shook slightly at the thought of this big kid taking revenge for his cousin.

"Kid, you're going to see that public school is a lot tougher than private school; especially catholic school."

The kid's words made Travis's knees shake. Any minute this kid was going to hit him, and he had never fought unless somebody started telling dirty lies about Sam. This kid could squish him and not even notice. "Really?" Travis repeated, his voice cracked slightly.

"Uh-huh. Kids at this school have even been caught bringing weapons to school." The kid nodded grimly. That was it. Travis was going to die. He was going to die today and he hadn't even gone to confession for the fight with Dominick yet!

The kid reached out a hand. "I'm Zack. Most guys don't mess with me, and since you sent Dominick to the hospital I'd like to help you out."

"Really?!" Light at the end of the tunnel, huzzah!

"Yep, so I'll make you a deal, you help me to pass math this year, and I'll be your bodyguard okay?" The kid was smiling, like the idea of him being a body guard was funny or something.

"Sounds, sounds good!" Travis grinned. He took Zack's hand and they shook on it.

"So, do you like video games?" Zack asked hopefully. Travis grinned brightly; he could tell that this was the beginning of a great friendship.

* * *

Master Splinter looked up nervously towards the sewer lid. From time to time the light was obstructed by humans passing over their location. If anyone decided to lift the sewer lid it would be difficult to get Samantha into a hiding place before they were seen.

The girl had fallen asleep as she cried. She now rested peacefully with her head in his lap. While he knew that this rest was helping her to heal, both physically and mentally, he also knew that if they were discovered it would not go well for them.

"Miss Gelding? Miss Samantha?" He whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. She made a small noise in her throat but didn't stir. "Samantha!" He whispered a little louder.

"…n…mom…n, school…tired." Master Splinter smiled slightly.

"Miss Gelding, we must be going." He shook her shoulder a little harder and she opened her eyes.

Sam quickly sat up so that her head was no longer on his lap. "M' sorry." She mumbled again.

"It is quite alright. I fear though that we must be returning to the lair, my sons will be most worried about us." Sam nodded and rubbed her face, which felt crusty from all the crying she had done. The two of them stood and Sam cast one last glance back at the manhole before they began walking down the tunnels.

They remained silent as they walked, moving down ladders without a word with both absorbed in their thoughts. Master Splinter decided to try some words of comfort when something caused his ears to stiffen.

Sam felt Master Splinter's hand on her shoulder and stopped. She turned to see him staring down the tunnels with his eyes narrowed and his ears alert. After a moment he spoke. "We must go in the other direction." His tone allowed for no argument as they turned and hurried in the opposite direction.

It wasn't long before Sam heard something that chilled her to the bone more than the dank sewers ever could. Clanking, rhythmic and following the two of them. She glanced nervously at Master Splinter only to see that he was looking at her with worry in his eyes. "I can run if you can." She said. He nodded and they picked up their pace until they were both running.

The clanking fell behind them as they ran through the tunnels. Just when Sam thought they were going to get away the tunnel suddenly ended. It looked like there had been a collapse of the roof some time ago and the fallen dirt and debris looked like it had filled the entire tunnel, blocking their route.

"Uh, how often do these tunnels collapse?" Sam asked, she had a vivid image of New York crumbling into the tunnels.

"Too often." Master Splinter replied gravely. He gently pushed Sam forwards. "Quickly, you must climb up and see if there is a way through!"

Sam nodded and started climbing up, just as the clanking became audible to her again.

* * *

Just how often do those tunnels collapse? After watching TMNT 2003 I'm amazed New York hasn't fallen in on itself yet!

Please review!


	20. Mousers

I do not own the TMNT

* * *

Chapter twenty; Mousers

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Sam could feel her heart pounding as she came climbed the pile of debris. Once she neared the top she was able to see plainly that there was no way through. The debris completely blocked their path and there would be no digging out.

She slid down to where Master Splinter was. "There's no way through!" She told him.

"Please Miss Gelding, climb back up and do not come down unless I tell you to." He lifted his walking stick and prepared to fight.

"But,-"

"Now! Quickly!" Sam nodded and obediently crawled back up onto the pile. Looking down the tunnel she could make out movement in the dim light that quickly solidified into those horrible little robots. Five of the little monsters ran towards them.

Sam reflexively gripped the dirt and found a sizable chunk of brick. As the first robot came within reach of Master Splinter he swung his walking stick and knocked the thing back into one of its counterparts. Neither was disabled. As Master Splinter fought with his walking stick, his hands and even his tail Sam started to throw bricks at the little mechanical demons. She missed often, but she hit enough to at least slow them down a little. But as hard as they tried the things just wouldn't die!

"Miss Gelding!" Master Splinter called. "Come down to my right side! When I tell you to, you must run!" Sam slid down next to the old rat as he began systematically throwing or knocking the robots to his left. "Now! Run!" Sam did as she was told, running past the robots as fast as she could. Master Splinter quickly followed.

They were able to run fast enough to outpace the robots but Sam was beginning to tire. When they reached a branching in the tunnels Master Splinter urgently instructed that she go left. Sam nodded and started running again. She didn't notice that he didn't follow her this time.

Instead he waited for the little monsters to catch up with him. He began leading the robots into the tunnel on the right, away from where Samantha had gone. At first it worked, but then they began to peel off, one-by-one they turned and raced off after Sam. When the third robot turned Master Splinter leapt and rammed his walking stick completely through the head portion. He quickly chased after the other two while the final two chased him.

Ahead Master Splinter heard a scream that was suddenly cut off, he prayed to his ancestors that he wouldn't be too late.

* * *

Sam bit her lip and swallowed the rest of the scream in her throat. The tunnel ended suddenly after leading into a large shaft. After running around a bend in the tunnel she had seen the ledge at the last minute and only had time to grab the edge as she fell. Risking a look down Sam saw some kind of maintenance center some thirty or forty feet below her.

Reaching out with her feet was useless; the tunnel extended into the shaft a couple of feet before it came to an end. She reached out with one arm and tried to find a hand-hold, but the floor of the tunnel was smooth. Bracing her hands on the ledge she managed to pull herself up until the first row of plates on her chest slid over the stone and the indent between the first and second row caught on the edge. When she tried to pull herself up further the plates slid and she fell back down, banging her chin on the stone as her arms held her up.

"This isn't fair." Sam groaned. In reply she heard the clanking of robots coming down the tunnel. After the first one came into sight it gave its strange roar, growl noise and ran at her. Without thinking Sam pushed against the tunnel floor and lost her hold, dropping a short distance before her hands caught the ledge. The robot made its weird call again but this time the sound was distorted and faded slightly as though falling. When Sam opened her eyes and looked down she saw the robot on the floor below her, inert and hopefully dead.

Sam swallowed carefully and looked back up. Another one of the little monsters looked down at her, tilting its head to the side and issuing its strange cry like a puppy trying to figure something out. It reached down and bit into the stone ledge sending bits of stone and chalk showering down on her. She coughed and felt her grip start to slip.

Suddenly this robot too flew out into the open space. Master Splinter reached down and helped Sam back up onto the ledge. "Are you unhurt Miss Gelding?" He asked. Sam nodded; she didn't trust herself to speak just yet.

More clanking as the last two robots came around the bend in the tunnel. Master Splinter lifted his walking stick again and as the two mechanical menaces came closer he flipped one over his head and bounced the other off the tunnel wall, sending both plummeting towards the floor where their brothers lay motionless.

When Master Splinter helped Sam to her feet she felt a sharp pain in her foot and quickly sat down. Looking closer she saw a sharp chip of stone impaled on her foot. It was made more bothersome because the injured foot was on her good leg. Master Splinter knelt down next to Sam and examined the injury himself. After a moment he nodded to himself and reached into his robe. From an unseen pocket he withdrew a roll of gauze. He looked up at Sam. "This sliver must be removed." He stated with absolute certainty. "My apologies but it will be quite painful."

Sam nodded. Master Splinter held her foot in one hand and prepared to remove the object with the other. He looked up at Sam and when she nodded that she was ready he pulled the sliver out, quickly stemming the bleeding with the gauze. Air hissed through Sam's teeth and her eyes watered slightly as the sensation of pins and needles ran up her leg.

After wrapping her foot with the gauze, Master Splinter tied it off and again helped Sam to her feet. As her weight came to rest on the injured foot Sam grimaced. Master Splinter handed Sam his walking stick and with a twinkle in his eye he informed her, "I do not require this myself just yet." He placed one hand on Sam's arm to help steady her as they moved away from the shaft.

* * *

Please Review


	21. Beginning of Something

I do not own the TMNT

* * *

Chapter twenty-one; Beginning of Something

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"Samantha."

Master Splinter's ears twitched and he glanced over at Sam, who stood just a couple inches taller than he did. "Miss Gelding?" He asked curiously.

Sam smiled and shook her head. "Samantha. Miss Gelding is my aunt. Please, call me Sam or Samantha."

"Yes, of course Mi- Samantha." Sam smiled slightly as they continued through the tunnels.

It was a huge disappointment to her that she was not going home. Something in her gut told her that there were many nights coming where she would simply have to cry herself to sleep. But she couldn't think about that now. Right now she was too worried about the little robots that had just tried to eat her…_again._ Yet another worry was the collapsed tunnel. Master Splinter had said that the collapses occurred 'too often' and that meant more than once. That, plus the robots, plus getting hurt for running around barefoot made Sam very dubious about her odds of survival down here.

For a moment one small part of her mind danced with the temptation to turn around, go up that ladder, head home. She batted that thought aside and kept walking, or rather, limping.

They came to a t-intersection in the tunnels. Sam waited for Master Splinter to tell or show her which way to go. Instead he requested the use of his walking stick.

After balancing on her good foot she handed it over. He reached up with the stick and used it to pry a pipe loose from the wall just out of his reach. This revealed a small LED screen and he quickly entered in a code using his walking stick. Suddenly the pipes and the wall shifted dramatically. Sam was shocked to discover that this was the other side of the door she had 'escaped' through earlier.

Master Splinter returned the walking stick to Sam and they walked through the opening. They were immediately accosted by four worried mutants.

"Master Splinter where were you?!"

"Are you two alright?"

"That bandage wasn't there last night."

"What happened?!"

Sam flushed. She had foolishly gone out on a stupid delusion and Master Splinter had followed after her and kept her from getting killed. That's what happened.

"My sons, please. We were out, taking a walk." Master Splinter told them. "M- Samantha requires exercise to heal properly." He looked pointedly at Donatello who nodded. "As we were walking through the tunnels we were attacked by mousers."

The turtles reacted with shock. Sam blinked. "Mousers? That's what those things are called?" She asked.

"Yes, but what are mousers doing in the sewers?" Leonardo looked to Donnie for advice.

"Uh, maybe they're leftovers?" Mikey suggested hopefully.

"Doubtful, all of Stockman's mousers self destructed when we blew his lab." Donnie explained. "More likely these are a newer model." He considered this for a moment before his brow furrowed again. "Sam…" He asked hesitantly. "Were these the same robots you said came after you in the lab?" Sam nodded. Donnie's expression softened to sympathy and he was about to say something when the sharp sound of metal on stone caught everyone's attention.

Raphael had thrown one of his sais into a wall. "That Stockman…" He growled. With a glance at his father Raphael's voice lowered but he continued to say something under his breath. Sam was kind of glad she didn't hear what it was.

"If there are mousers in the sewers then that means the tunnels could be unstable." Leonardo drew the attention away from Sam. She was grateful, the way everyone had been looking at her made her feel like a lost child.

"Right." Donnie agreed. "I'll hook up the seismic surveillance devices I set up last time the mousers were on the loose and keep an eye out for any reports going through city hall via the internet to warn us of any repair crews coming through. We'll all have to stay alert relax again."

Sam blinked, that last sentence hadn't made any sense to her whatsoever. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and looked over at Mikey. "Somebody's tired." He said. "You should go to bed."

"Yeah, you're probably right" Sam nodded.

"Of course I am. Come on sleepy head." He put both hands on her shoulders and steered her over to her room.

Donnie looked up from his plans with Leo, feeling a little guilty for not noticing that Sam was pretty much dead on her feet. "Hold up Mikey! I need to check her injury first!"

"I should probably get started on those plans." Leo said. He moved off towards Donnie's lab to start working. Raphael continued to grumble under his breath until he felt a sharp smack on the back of his head.

"Raphael, what have I told you about treating your weapons in such a manner?"

* * *

Karai sat behind her desk. Her work was not so much focused on the inter-workings of the building but on matters of business. Buying, trading, mergers; they were all necessary parts of the wealth Oroku Saki had accumulated. Although he rarely admitted it, Karai's adoptive father held a quiet fondness for the risk involved in honest business; even if he didn't always stick to the honesty portion of honest business. Oroku Saki insisted that Karai learn to handle herself in this financial world.

But though that was the work spread out on her desk her mind was not on it. Instead her train of thought focused on a small memory device hanging from a strap around her neck. The flash-drive held a great deal of information on Stockman's escaped experiment. Her father did not know about it and she had no intention of telling him, although for what reason she wasn't entirely sure.

Karai kept this information with her at all times. She was not sure what to do with it, but she could not let it rest.

* * *

I guess you could call this the end of part one. I'm sorry but it will be a while before I get enough of the next part written up to start posting again so this story is going into a brief hiatus. Between school and life I don't think I can start posting again any sooner than mid-May. Please don't hurt me!

Reviews please!


	22. Part Two

I do not own the TMNT

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Chapter twenty-two; Part two.

* * *

"Good afternoon Travis. How was school today?" Mrs. McFarthing asked, her soft brogue was hardly perceptable. She stood in the doorway of her own apartment, as watchful of the boy when he arrived home now as she was before his sister had vanished.

"It was fine." Travis replied casually.

"I should hope so." The woman smiled. "Your mother wanted you to know that she'll be home early tonight, so don't try watching anything on television you ought not!" The old woman winked at Travis who grinned broadly, his eyes sparkling.

"Great, now what am I supposed to do?" He joked.

"How about that homework of yours?" She replied. Travis groaned dramatically before starting up the stairs. He fished in his pocket for the key his mom had given him and stuck it in the lock without checking it first. The key turned without its usual resistance and the door opened.

Travis dumped his backpack on the floor and walked over to his mom's stereo. After turning off the CD player he skimmed through the shelf of his parents' old records. Finding what he wanted he pulled one out and removed it from its protective sleeve. Before placing it on the record player Travis gave the large disk a spin between his fingers. Once the vinyl was in place and the power button was pushed the record began to spin and the needle automatically moved into place.

Just before the music started feeding through the speakers Travis cranked the volume. The beat thudded out a familiar style of subdued anticipation. As the music played Travis bobbed his head slightly, a pleased grin wrinkling the winter freckles on his nose as he moved to the kitchen, completely unaware of the shadow emerging from the hallway.

In the kitchen Travis opened a cupboard and looked inside to see if his mom had picked up any snacks recently. Nothing caught his attention so he moved to the over-stuffed fridge. After opening the door a bowl of leftovers suddenly fell out, crashing to the floor. Travis picked up the bowl and shoved it back into its previous location before leaning in closer to find the tray from last night's dinner. As he dug at the tin foil the shadow from the hall silently opened one of the kitchen drawers and removed a paring knife.

Sticking a cold chicken leg in his mouth, Travis continued his search humming along slightly with the music. He found bag of finger foods and stood up to take his pillage to his room. As he did, he felt something cold and sharp press against his throat. The song came to an end just as the blade sliced deep into his neck.

Blood went everywhere as Travis's body hit the floor with a careless thud. Samantha gave a shout and fought against the hands holding her down.

"Hey, calm down. It's just a dream. Come on Sam, wake up." Sam's eyes slowly focused on the green and blue face in front of her. Slowly she was able to recognize Leonardo and remember where she was.

"Leo?" The turtle smiled at her slightly now that she was waking up. "I, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Sam sat up and pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"I was already awake." He told her, Samantha was pretty sure that was a lie. "Are you okay now?"

"I'll be fine." Eventually she would, she just wouldn't be getting any more sleep tonight.

The blue banded turtle tipped his head slightly. "If you want to talk about it, it could help." He offered. Sam considered.

Normally after such a dream she would go to the room next door and watch her brother sleep until she felt better. She could still go to the room next door, but somehow she didn't think seeing Donnie sleeping there would make her feel better. At this point talking was probably her best bet.

When she didn't say anything Leo asked as gently as possible, "Was it Stockman's lab?"

Wouldn't that be the normal thing to have nightmares about? Maybe she'd have to deal with those later. "No. It was about Travis."

Leonardo waited for more. "Travis is my little brother. I've had a couple dreams about him over the last couple months." But it was the first one she'd had of him being killed. Sam closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head as the image of her brother's murder loomed in front of her eyes. "I'll be fine; I think I just need to walk it off." Leonardo looked skeptical. "Really, a little exercise and I'll be fine." She quickly pushed off the covers and stood up.

"Thanks for checking on me Leo. I'll be okay." Sam assured him before leaving.

Leo watched as she made her way around the lair. "Sure you will." He scoffed lightly. The position of eldest had fallen to Leo for a good reason, a large part of that being the concern he felt for his other brothers, the same concern he saw in Sam's eyes for her little brother.

* * *

That same night Travis had heard something at his window. It was strange to hear anything there and as there were bars over the window he highly doubted that anything could get to him. Still, nine year old boys are notorious for their curiosity.

He pulled back the blinds and was surprised to see something stuck between the metal bars. Travis slid the window open and reached for the slender silhouette. Pain lanced through the tip of his finger and he quickly pulled back his hand and stuck the offended finger in his mouth. When he could no longer taste his blood he pressed the finger against the cloth of his pajamas to prevent any further bleeding and reached out more cautiously with his other hand.

This time he felt something warm and metallic, almost like somebody had it in a pocket or something shortly before. With a little effort and determination he managed to pull the metal object through the bars and brought it into his room for a better look. After turning on the light Travis could see that the metal object looked a little like a CD that had been cut to have four distinct and very sharp points; one of which now sported a drop of Travis's blood.

If he hadn't known any better Travis would have thought he was holding a ninja throwing star, like in the movies.

Good thing he knew better.


	23. Another Stranger

I do not own the TMNT

* * *

Chapter twenty-three; Yet another Stranger

* * *

Mikey helped Sam out of the battle shell. She flinched slightly as her injured foot hit the ground but otherwise showed no signs of discomfort from her healing injuries. The five of them moved silently to the side door of a store and slipped inside as soon as Donnie unlocked it.

As they moved through the dark building Mikey held Sam's hand to keep her from getting hurt. They had come here so that Sam could meet a friend of theirs named April. Apparently Donnie and this April person had discussed the matter and decided that Sam needed some female companionship to help her come to terms with her situation. So tonight, while the guys went out and did whatever it was they did at night Sam would get to have some 'female bonding time' with a woman she had never met before. To say the least she was somewhat less than thrilled.

"Stairs." Mikey whispered; a moment later Sam's foot banged into a step. She bit her lip to avoid making any noise and adjusted her step to carry her up the stairs.

At the top of the staircase was a lit hallway. The guys seemed to relax a little but remained silent as Leo knocked on the door. A red-headed woman with a friendly smile answered. "Come on in!" She then stepped back to let them by.

"Samantha, I'd like you to meet April, April, this is Samantha." Leo politely introduced them as Sam came through the door.

"Hello there! It's nice to meet you!" April smiled warmly and held out her hand. As they shook Sam couldn't help but notice the dramatic clash between her own green skin and April's pale pinkish white. Despite the contrast April didn't seem to mind.

Somebody's cell phone went off. All four of the guys plus April checked to see whose it was. "Mine!" Donnie announced. He checked his cell phone. As he did his eyes widened. "Guys we've got to move! They're early tonight!"

"No way!" Raph growled as he ran back through the door. Leonardo and Michelangelo quickly followed him.

"We'll pick you up later Sam! Uh, have fun!" Donnie called as he followed his brothers.

"Fun?" Sam asked his retreating shell. Once again Sam found herself in a strange place with a complete stranger and no idea what to do. She turned when she felt April's hand on her bare shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to bite and the guys will be back later." April said reassuringly, "How would you like some tea?" She noticed the faint look of distaste that crossed the younger girl's otherwise politely neutral expression face. "I've got hot chocolate too."

Sam nodded, "That sounds great. Thank you." Hearing that the tone in Samantha's voice matched her slightly guarded expression April heaved an inward sigh, this was not going to be easy.

* * *

The turtles raced back to the battle shell. "Too slow Donnie, I'm driving!" Raph called as Donatello ran out of the building. Donnie quickly climbed into the back of the vehicle just as Raph tore out of the alley.

"Whoa!"

"Hey!"

"Raph! I thought you could drive!" Donnie shouted after nearly getting dumped out the back.

"Heh, I can, just hold onto your lunch!" Raph called back, from the look on Mikey's face the warning had come none too soon.

Donatello pulled up some video feed off of the computer he had rigged into the side of the battle shell. "What's up Don?" Leo called as the image of a rooftop showed up on the video feed.

"Somebody set off two of the motion detectors I had set up, one of them activated a camera but there's nothing there now. I'm calling up the other cameras now." Donnie reported. He video feed on the monitor switched to a different rooftop, then another. The forth camera showed a rooftop with just a few too many shadows. Donnie paused there for a moment and soon the shadows moved. "Confirmed foot soldiers Leo!" He called. "They're about two buildings away from the apartment building!"

"Floor it Raph!" Leo barked.

Raphael grinned, "Now those orders I can take! Brace yerselves!" He called as he complied.

The battle shell careened around a corner, their target just ahead.

* * *

Baxter Stockman frowned. He hadn't received any readings from his mousers in far too long. He quickly went back and reviewed the last images he had received. Four of the mousers' last known location was at an obsolete maintenance station. That didn't make much sense unless the girl had somehow managed to disable the mousers there.

Stockmen sent out a recon unit to go out and collect the mouser remains. At the same time he sent out more mousers to go after the girl. She might have been able to manage five mousers, but how about fifteen?

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Nothing much happened in this chapter, hopefully the next will have a little more action.

Please Review


	24. A War Without Witnesses

I do not own the TMNT

* * *

Chapter twenty-four; A War Without Witnesses

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The turtles piled out of the battle shell and raced for the apartment building. The foot clan had come to this building at varying hours over the last several weeks, never at the same time but never this early. The last of the sun's light was still playing across the streets as the four turtles hurried to intercept the enemy ninja.

Raphael reached the roof first, followed quickly by Michelangelo. They took their positions just as the first ninja made the leap to the roof of the apartment. As soon as they realized that their opponents had arrived the ninja surrendered all pretenses of stealth and swarmed the roof, well over a hundred strong.

"Ya think they're getting tired of losin'?" Raph asked Mikey.

"How could they be? They keep coming back for more!" Mikey quipped as he swung his nunchucks forward. It was true that the ninja kept coming back, but each time the foot soldiers had become more determined and more difficult to defeat.

"Hey Raph! Do they bother to train these guys, or do they just send them over here as soon as their jammies fit?" Mikey called.

Raph held his position in front of the rooftop access, preventing anyone from getting inside. "Nah, they just photocopy 'em and send 'em off as soon as the ink dries." A tornado kick sent several ninja back, but a sweep cost Raph his footing. He gave a loud snarl as he went down.

Within minutes the door was knocked open and the foot ninja prepared to storm the apartment.

"Hi there." Leo greeted them from inside, quickly driving the hoard of ninja back.

"What took you so long?" Mikey called.

"The stairs were out of order; I had to take the elevator!" Leo called. Raph joined him and together the three guarded the enterance to the building.

* * *

Donatello slid the last of the file cabinet drawers shut unhappily.

Since these attacks had first begun Donnie had tried to get information on the building to gain clues as to why the foot clan was so interested, but any documentation on the building seemed to have vanished from city records. He had discovered the hard copies of the information for the people in the apartment complex in the building's office. Over the last few nights he and had been skimming through the information. Nothing had jumped out to him until he came to apartment 316. The file folder was filled with papers, all of which were blank.

Donnie was certain that this was the apartment that the foot clan planned to break into. He moved to the stairs and hurried to the third floor.

In the hall were three foot ninja. One trying to pick the lock to an apartment and two standing guard. Donnie stepped into view. "Now you fella's wouldn't know who ordered the ninja butt-kicking would you?" The two guards ran at him. "I thought I recognized your voice from the phone." He gripped his bo and waited until the last possible moment. Just before the two ninja could hit him Donnie spun hard and fast, knocking both look-alike warriors down the stairs.

After assuring that they wouldn't be coming back up Donnie turned to the last remaining ninja who stood up cautiously and slid into a defensive position. Then turned tail and ran the opposite way. "When did they start teaching them that?" Donnie asked and ran after the ninja.

Once Donnie's shell vanished around a corner the door that the ninja had been trying to unlock clicked. As the handle turned the picks the ninja had been using fell silently onto the carpeted hallway floor.

The door opened and the hallway was filled with the sounds of the two adult Geldings' shouting.

"I'M OVERPROTECTIVE? MAYBE YOU'RE JUST NOT PROTECTIVE ENOUGH!"

"SO NOW I'M A BAD FATHER AS WELL? AT LEAST I'M WILLING TO LET HIM MAKE FRIENDS!"

"JUST BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TRAVIS SLEEPING AT A STRANGER'S HOUSE-"

The shouting was cut off as the door closed and Travis slid to the floor with a sigh. "And that's why I don't want Zach spending the night over _here_." He muttered. Travis was glad the door of the apartment was solid enough to mute out his parents' shouting because there were days when he just couldn't take it. Their new habit of arguing at top volume only made losing Sam hurt more. Every time Travis thought he was getting over it they would find something to scream about, usually coming back to Sam's disappearance.

Travis reached into the pocket of his jacket and withdrew the CD. It was a little scratched up by now because Travis had gotten into the habit of carrying it with him. He looked into its reflective surface and stared into his brown eyes. Brown eyes that were almost exactly like another's. "Sam, please come home." He asked the eyes.

Instead of replying the eyes simply began filling with tears.

* * *

"Leo duck!" Leo ducked and a foot ninja flew over his shell, taking down several of his comrades as he landed. Turning briefly Leo noted Donnie was just about to head back in the direction he had come from. "Apparently they've discovered the front door!" Donnie announced.

"Mikey! Go with Don! Keep a low profile!" Leo ordered. Mikey nodded and backed up into the rooftop access, then shut the door.

Donnie ran down the stairs as Mikey slid down the railing until they reached the third floor. They ran down a hall and turned a corner before suddenly pulling to a stop and jumping back around the corner before they were seen. "What kind of kid just sits out here like that?" Donnie muttered.

Mikey peaked around the corner. "The crying kind." He informed his brother. Donnie moved to look around the corner as well.

A young boy anywhere from seven to eleven years old sat in front of one of the apartment doors with his knees drawn up to his chest and his face buried in his arms. It was painfully obvious that the shaking of his shoulders was not from laughter. "Wonder what his problem is." Donnie mused.

"Foot!" Mikey hissed. Two foot soldiers were climbing the stairs at the other end of the hall and it was clear that they too saw the boy, but they didn't seem so intent on hiding from him.

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	25. Interesting Happenings

I do not own the TMNT

* * *

Chapter twenty-five; Interesting Happenings

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Travis sniffed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve and his nose on the knees of his pants. He could almost hear Sam going all girly about how gross that was and telling him to use a tissue.

Something cut through the air above Travis's head, it sounded a little like when he swung a ruler through the air but there was a sort of a ring to the sound. He looked up and then down either side of the hallway. It was just as empty as it had been when he had come out here, but Travis was sure he had heard something.

He tucked the disk back into his jacket before he stood up and tried to decide which way to go, toward where the sound had come from, or to where it had gone?

* * *

"Come on kid, over here." Donnie urged.

"Come on kid, Uncle Mikey wants to say hi!" Mikey whispered. They were both hoping that the boy wouldn't move towards where the ninja had been.

"Don't think you're off the hook Mikey, when Leo finds out about some _kid_ hearing your shuriken you'll be practicing your technique for hours." Donnie reminded him. Mikey groaned.

In the hallway the boy looked quickly in the turtles' direction. A moment more was all it took for him to start walking in that direction. "And now you're letting the kid hear _you_." Donnie muttered as they beat a hasty retreat.

"Hey, at least he's not heading for the foot ninja." Mikey replied as they both hit the stairs.

* * *

The girl was nervous and quiet. April could understand her reluctance to trust strangers but getting a conversation out of this girl was like pulling teeth. On second thought it was more like digging for diamonds in a slab of concrete, underwater.

"So, your mom is a lawyer?" April asked.

Sam nodded. "Yes." "

First rule of starting a conversation; never ask 'yes' or 'no' questions. "That's interesting, what exactly does she do?"

"She works for a small firm on Wall Street." A hint of pride ghosted across Sam's face.

April noted the expression and pressed a little further. "There's no such thing as a 'small firm' on Wall Street."

"Then you're not familiar with her firm. They rent space above another company and use the address as a boost to their credentials." Sam replied, her tone was still polite but the hint of pride was back and glowed slightly in her brown eyes.

April was suitably impressed. "Wow, I could use that kind of business sense around my store."

The click was nearly audible as interest lit Samantha's eyes. "You have your own store?"

"Yes I do, it's the antique and junk shop on the ground floor…" April noted the way the girl was barely holding in her excitement. "Would you like to see it?"

Sam jumped up from her seat, seemingly unaware as hot chocolate spilled over her hand. "Would I ever!" She exclaimed.

The girl's reaction made April chuckle, "Last time I saw a reaction like that was when I offered to let Mikey have a bunch of games somebody had donated."

Sam blushed and seemed to draw back into her metaphorical shell. "Yeah, well…DECA student…." She muttered.

"Oh, in that case I'll have to show you more than just the merchandise." April offered.

"Really?!" Samantha's entire face seemed to glow with anticipation.

"Sure, why not?" April put her tea down. "We can go right now if you want, maybe we can even find something for you to wear if you'd like."

Sam blushed again but nodded. "That would be great." She put down her mug and followed April from the apartment as April explained the building's history.

"Originally it was a small grocery store for the neighborhood but when a larger franchise moved in down the street the owners sold the building to my father. He's the one responsible for the junk in the shop, I added the antiques. It was burned down once several months back and what we have now is really a more modern version of the original." April stopped at the door to the shop and glanced back at Sam, "I'm not boring you, am I?"

"Not at all." Sam grinned, "I like buildings with some history.

"Good. Well, here we are." April opened the door and turned on a light as she went in. Sam followed.

Just as Samantha stepped through the door a loud, pain inducing alarm went off. Both girls covered their ears and April hurried over to the counter and pressed a switch under the counter. The loud keening quickly died. She looked up and saw fear on Sam's face and that the younger girl was shaking slightly. "I'm sorry about that, Donnie installed an anti-theft feature into my security system and the alarm is touchier now than it was before, and that's saying something."

"S'all right." Sam managed, her heart slowly returned to its normal habit of actually beating. "So, um,…" Sam swallowed and tried to regain her composure, "So what do you have around here?" She finally managed, looking around.

As April showed Sam the contents of the store the computerized security system made a record of having identified a small electrical device at the exact moment Sam had stepped through the door.

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Please Review


	26. Intruder alert

I do not own the TMNT

This chapter came out a little choppy, but after redoing it four times I just couldn't do it again.

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Chapter twenty-six; Intruder alert.

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"Hold still."

Sam looked over curiously as April pulled some kind of cloth around her arm and tied it into place. She looked closer at the soft, cream colored material. "What's this, some kind of arm skirt?"

April chuckled and tied a similar piece to the younger girl's other arm. "They were sleeves to an older style dress. A customer bought the dress but didn't want the separate sleeves." Sam continued to examine the strange accessories as April adjusted them. They might be sleeves but they still looked like small skirts.

When April was done adjusting and fiddling the top seams were level with the top of the front of Sam's shell, the bottom of the sleeves brushed lightly over the crook of her elbows. The creamy yellow color matched nicely with the shell, looking almost like they were a part of the shell. The feel of the cloth on her skin and the slight pressure on her chest from the shell went a long way towards helping Sam feel less naked and more descent.

"Thanks April," Sam said honestly, "but I'm still confused about the belt. It's not like I'm wearing any pants or anything."

April chuckled, "Exactly, no pants, no pockets, you can use the belt to hold stuff."

"Right. I get it." Sam didn't really get it. In addition to the sleeve-skirts and plain leather belt Sam now wore some practical sandals and the simple, fingerless leather gloves that April had insisted on when she saw how much damage Sam's palms had taken recently. For a fleeting moment Sam thought _That looks pretty cool_ but then her expression darkened, _For a mutant freak_. Sam bowed her head to hide her frown.

April watched as Samantha's hair fell in front of her face when she looked down. After considering for a minute April retrieved a green ribbon from a box of scraps and notions. She used this to quickly tie Sam's thick hair back into a simple tail. "There." She noted with satisfaction.

After regaining her composure Sam looked up, a fake but convincing smile pasted on her face. "April, this is great, I don't know how I can repay you for all of this."

The red-head wasn't fooled by the false smile, but she didn't press the issue. "You don't owe me a thing. Now, did you want to hear more about the store?"

After receiving an enthusiastic response from Samantha April stared talking about the various things she did around the shop to keep her dad's old place running. As April talked Sam looked around the store at various things April pointed out, laughing when April described what it was like to have four turtles and Casey 'helping' out around the store and listening with interest as April described the details that went into rebuilding after the fire.

April really did enjoy talking about the store to someone who appreciated the business side as much as the personal side. Normally all the guys cared about was whether the place was secure and if April knew how to protect herself from 'suspicious characters.' She was just about to start telling Sam about some of the adventures and mishaps that all Donnie's security measures had caused when suddenly the green of Sam's skin seemed to pale and the younger girl stiffened.

"Sam, what is ih…" April stopped when she herself heard it; a mechanical whine and clank that she had hoped she would never hear again.

She hurried over and grabbed Sam's hand, "Come on." The two girls hurried to the back door of the store. The moment Sam stepped over the threshold the alarm once again started blaring but its loud keening was ignored as they hurried to the building's back entrance. No sooner had April opened the door than Samantha gave a screech and jumped forward, slamming the door shut again before the mousers could get inside. "Upstairs!" April ordered, quickly pushing Sam towards the staircase. April pulled out her cell phone and hit speed dial as they climbed. "Pick up, pick up…"

They made it to April's apartment and Sam closed and locked the door. "Pick up, pick up.." April chanted, "Casey! It's April! Please hurry, mousers are breaking into my store!...Mousers…they're little robots that eat things…yes those! Hurry!" April hung up and grabbed a bat that Casey had given her for emergencies. After stuffing her phone back in her pocket she grabbed Sam's wrist and guided the girl to the window by the fire escape.

"I don't understand it." April muttered as they pushed the window open, "The mousers were never designed to leave the sewers." The window slid open and Sam gave April a strange look before they climbed out onto the fire escape.

"Designed? How do you know what those things were designed for?" Sam asked.

"I, that is…now's not the time, I'll explain later." That answer clearly didn't satisfy Sam.

April slammed the window shut just as the metal monsters could be heard outside the apartment.


	27. Evil ninja Determined robots

Not going to say it, I'm sick of typing stupid disclaimers.

The foot ninja as a mindless whole act a little out of character in this chapter, I'll explain why in a later chapter.

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Chapter twenty-seven; Evil ninja; determined robots

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Donatello and Michelangelo braced their shells against the main doors of the building that the foot clan was currently attempting to infiltrate.

"Donnie?" Mikey asked before the doors were violently shoved open a few inches. The two turtles quickly pushed them shut again.

"What is it Mikey?" Don grunted as the doors were again shoved partially open.

"What part of Leo's orders-" The doors were pushed open and quickly shut again, "-to 'keep a low profile' includes-" Doors pushed open, turtles grunt as they push doors shut again, "-being really loud and-" Their feet slid across the polished floors as they struggled to keep out the mass of evil ninja on the other side, "-getting caught on camera?"

Donnie glanced up at the security camera suspended over the stairs, its small red light cheerfully indicating that it was recording. "I'll loop the video feed later." He managed as the doors again banged open and shut. "Other than some unexplained vandalism to the doors it'll be fine-" They pushed the doors shut again "- so long as nobody actually-"

Over the noise of their struggling, another sound caught the turtles' attention. They both looked up to see an older woman come out of her apartment wearing an old robe with pockets weighed down heavily; probably filled with ammunition for the shotgun she carried. "Alright you hooligans, if you think you c-…you…you're…" The woman slipped into a lilting foreign language before passing out cold onto the tile floor.

"Leo doesn't have to know about this part." Donnie decided.

"Sounds good." Mikey agreed quickly.

The doors pushed open and were again shoved closed.

* * *

"Wrong way! Wrong way!" Sam shouted, climbing back up the fire escape towards April. April didn't have to ask why; she could hear the gears squeaking in the mousers below them. The two quickly scaled the fire escape, but the only place left to go was the roof. As the girls climbed on to the roof they scanned the surrounding buildings for an alternate route of escape.

"The guys sometimes get to my place by jumping roof top to rooftop." April suggested.

Samantha looked at the buildings surrounding the Second Time Around shop. They were all either at least an entire story taller than the building they now stood on, or across the street. "I couldn't even get onto this roof from those, much less off this one!" Sam shook her head, both denying April's vague plan and dispelling the growing feeling of being trapped.

"Then… there has got to be a solution!" April insisted, her eyes analyzing every last inch of the rooftop and the buildings around them. They moved away from the edge of the building as April tried to come up with a plan. Suddenly the roof seemed to sag under Sam's feet and she quickly jumped aside just as a hole opened up in the roof and two mousers crawled out.

Samantha quickly scrambled away from the robots as they came towards her. April ran around the hole and the mousers to get between them and Sam. She swung her bat menacingly and the mousers seemed to pause to process this possible threat. Taking advantage of their momentary hesitation April quickly helped Sam to her feet. "Stay back." April warned the younger girl, holding out one arm protectively. Even as April swung the bat once again to knock the robots aside two more crawled through the hole and three more came over the edge of the roof from the fire escape.

As the red-head tried to ward off the mousers Sam's mind was racing. All April could do to the things was knock them aside; something like what Sam had done when the things first came after her in the lab and like what Master Splinter had done when the robots attacked them in the sewers.

No, not them, her. The robots had more or less tried to ignore the rat as they raced after Sam, just as they had ignored April when the girls were on opposite sides of the hole in the roof only moments before. Sooner or later the girls were going to run out of roof backing away from these things and they weren't even after April. The mousers were only chasing Sam.

By the time Sam had come to this conclusion the back of her foot nudged the ledge of the roof. April stood less than two feet in front of Samantha warding off the robots that had grown to somewhere around ten in number. With a determined frown Sam stepped up onto the ledge and quickly slid along it until she was out from behind April. As predicted, the mousers soon stopped attacking April and turned towards Sam.

When the robots paused and started moving to April's side she blinked and looked to where they were now headed. "SAM! What are you doing?"

"Mousers, I get it now. Looks like I'm the rat." Sam hurried along the ledge, the mousers following her like greyhounds chasing the rabbit.

"Samantha!" Sam ignored April as she ran over to the fire escape and disappeared over the edge, followed closely by the mousers. April ran over to that side of the roof and stared over the edge of the roof for several nerve wracking moments before she saw Sam jump off the fire escape and down into the alley below. Two mousers quickly followed the girl and April was forced to watch helplessly as Sam fled the alley and ran out into the streets.

As April climbed back onto the fire escape she reached for her cell phone and hit speed dial again. "Casey if you're stuck in traffic I'll personally castrate you!" April growled as the phone rang.

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Please review


	28. Seen

Chapter twenty-eight; Seen

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The leather sandals slid on loose gravel and dirt as Sam rounded another corner and fled down the street. Behind her the sounds of the mousers had faded but Sam wasn't about to slow down and let them catch up. She wasn't sure what she was going to do but she knew that she needed to do it before the stitch in her side tore her in two.

Sam rounded another corner and skidded to a halt when she saw a couple embracing under a streetlamp. Upon hearing the sound of Sam's sudden stop the woman glanced over at Sam. For a moment she held her nervous, slightly guarded expression. Then it twisted into a look that made Sam feel like something that had died a long time ago and was now trying to rejoin the living.

The woman clutched at the man next to her before letting out a short scream. He looked to see what had caused his companion such distress and gasped at what he saw. He pulled the woman behind him and reached for something in his pocket.

All this took place in the time span of a breath before Sam could backtrack and run in a different direction. She hurried into an alley and ducked behind a noxious smelling dumpster. Her breath came in short, painful gasps that tore at the sore muscles in Sam's chest and side. The shell felt as if it were trying to squeeze the air out of her. As hard as it was to catch her breath from all the running she had just done her body's effort to begin sobbing weren't making things any easier.

"I…They-" Sam choked and coughed before she managed to gasp "_stupid_!" Samantha tore off one of the gloves April had given her and ground the palm of that hand into her eyes. The twin images of the two humans' reactions to her appearance loomed up in front of her.

Shock, horror, fear…_revulsion_.

Samantha had _disgusted_ them. Like some slimy creature that had crawled out of the deepest, dirtiest tunnels of the sewers and dared to walk _their_ streets.

And it was true. Sam had spent at least a week _living_ in tunnels designed to carry these peoples' refuse away from them. She was covered in sweat and she was a mutant freak _thing._

"S-stupid." Sam gasped with a little less venom this time. The tightness in her throat and the emotional weight in her gut didn't ease even as her breathing started to slow. She was tired both physically and mentally. Right now she just wanted to crawl under a heavy blanket and forget everything for a few hours.

Instead of being allowed to forget everything Sam was reminded of something she had temporarily forgotten.

Another scream echoed down the street and into the alley. Sam's eyes shot open and she stiffened. Soon her ears were met with the sickening mechanical squeaks and whines of the robots that had chased her out here in the first place. She quickly looked around for a route of escape but realized that she had trapped herself in a dead-end alley without even a fire escape. Sam scrunched hopelessly back into the corner between the wall and the dumpster. The mousers came closer and Sam curled up tighter; whispering a silent Our Father. The first one came around the dumpster's corner, almost peaking at her before it stepped out further, screeched, and leapt at her. With a screech of her own Sam flung an arm out and barely clipped the thing, knocking it off course so that it clanked into the dumpster beside her. Samantha scooted away from the thing before it could right itself and crawled back from it as quickly as she could.

Unfortunately this only led her further into the alley and into view of several more of the little robots. Faced with these evil monsters and without any way to defend herself Sam covered her eyes and waited for the tearing to start. The mousers screeched, several at once and without looking Sam could picture them leaping at her.

"GOONGALA!"

Something crunched and Sam peaked between her fingers to see a giant swinging a large baseball bat in each hand and _laughing_ as he struck the mousers. Several were already lying around the alley in various stages of damage. The man even gave the bats a stylish spin before crushing two mousers at once –one with each bat. It was beyond Sam's comprehension how he was managing this in the first place much less having _fun_ doing it.

But his victories weren't without some losses. Beside him lay a hockey stick mangled nearly beyond recognition and even as Sam watched the man was forced to drop the bats in his hands and reach into the bag on his back to withdraw a golf club. "Four!" He shouted before knocking one of the mousers clean out of the alley. The man brought the club down on another robot and the handle bent at a sharp angle without leaving a dent on the mouser. "Eh, this is why I don't love golf." He said, again reaching behind his back to grab more sporting equipment out of the golf bag on his back.

He withdrew a cricket bat from the bag and even from behind him Sam could see him wince. Apparently the bat was his last line of defense as the bag now appeared to be empty. One of the mousers caught the bat in its jaws and splintered the wood while the rest of the functioning robots advanced.

"Halftime?" The man asked. Two of the mousers jumped at him and he swung the bag off his shoulders, hitting both of the robots. He reached back and for the first time Sam saw the hockey mask that he wore before he grabbed her wrist and easily pulled her to her feet. "We gotta run!" He told her before half dragging Sam from the alley.

The man continued to pull her down the street as Sam looked back and counted at least five more mousers still chasing them…her. Almost two blocks later he pulled her into another alley where a skinny man with a dirty old army jacket was eyeing a motorcycle. The man in the mask jumped onto the bike and turned to Sam. "Get on." He ordered, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.

Without thinking about who this guy might be Sam quickly jumped onto the motorcycle behind the man and wrapped her arms around his waist as he started the bike and sped out into the street.

* * *

I wanted so badly to break it off and talk about somebody else right before that Goongala line, see, I'm not all evil!

Please review.


	29. Have bat will swing

Chapter twenty-nine; Have Bat; Will Swing.

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"I can get some more equipment here." The man explained as he pulled his motorcycle up behind a sporting goods store.

Sam slid off the back of the motorcycle while the man who had saved her life set it up against a wall. He glanced back at her and paused for a moment before lifting his hockey mask to get a better look. His concerned expression made Sam feel extremely uncomfortable, "When'd you get that?" He asked, gently taking her arm in his hands. For the first time Sam noticed the blood that had smeared across her forearm. She frowned.

"I…It must have been when I hit that mouser." She guessed.

The man nodded, "You'd better come inside." He said. The man turned to the back door of the store and kicked the door in. Sam's jaw dropped and she felt her eyes were about to fall right out of their sockets. "The owner owes me a few favors." The man explained with a casual shrug as he went inside.

Hesitantly, Samantha followed him inside. He walked through the store like he owned the place and moved right over to the check-out counter. The man reached over the counter and picked up a white box with a red cross on the lid. "Alright now, sit." He pointed to a stool and Sam obediently sat. After pulling up a slightly shorter stool the man opened the box, pulled out some gauze and a bottle of something then began to clean the blood off of Sam's arm.

"You must be that Samantha chick." The man said. Instead of answering Sam stared at her arm as the man's ministrations revealed two cuts that still slowly oozed fresh blood. "By the way, I'm Casey Jones, just Casey really. I'm sure Raphie boy has told you all about me."

Raphael had not mentioned this man, not that Samantha could remember anyway; but Mikey had mentioned a Casey when he gave her that…

Sam sputtered, "Wait- you're Casey? But I thought Mikey said…" No, Mikey hadn't said anything other than the shampoo used to belong to Casey. He had never said that Casey was a girl. "Or maybe not." Sam corrected herself, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. She really, really hoped this green skin couldn't blush.

Casey glanced up at her with a slightly confused expression, completely unaware of the misunderstanding. He shrugged slightly and returned to bandaging Sam's arm.

Taking advantage of his focus on her arm, Sam looked the guy in front of her over. He had longish black hair that looked longer than some girls' and the eyes that he now squinted at the bandage he was wrapping Sam's arm with were a nice, manly shade of blue. The sight of this large man sticking his tongue out between his teeth as he tried to get the bandage on just right was kind of comical.

Sam had to cover her mouth with one hand when it occured to her to wonder if his hair smelled of the Lavander Valley Lillies shampoo. She had mostly forgotten about the reference to this Casey person when she had heard about April.

April!

Sam suddenly recalled that April had called this guy on her cell phone, "Is April okay?" She asked quickly.

"Ape's fine, looks like all them little robot guys were after you, they left her alone after you ran." Casey stood up and grinned down at Sam, "Although, when I get you back to the store you can expect a lot of yelling for running off like that . You scared her half to death!"

Sam ducked her head slightly, "I didn't mean to worry her."

A warm chuckle, "Nah. Don't worry 'bout it, April needs to worry once in a while. If somebody doesn't get themselves into major trouble from time ta' time she gets antsy and hasta' go shoppin'." His smile slipped and he shuddered. His reaction was enough to make Sam feel worlds better. Her father always acted like a war veteran when he came back from a shopping trip with her mother; clearly this man didn't enjoy the experience either.

Casey quickly distracted himself by putting the first-aid kit back and started looking at some of the equipment in the store. As Sam watched quietly, Casey Jones picked out another golf bag, another hockey stick and some bats. He was browsing through a collection of croquet mallets with a skeptical look on his face when something in the back of the store shattered. Casey spun around and Sam jumped to her feet.

"Not again." Sam groaned as once again she heard mousers closing in on her. Casey stepped forward and gently pushed Samantha behind him with a bat while he pulled his mask down in front of his face.

"Alright ya' puny bots, let's play!" Almost as if the robots had understood him they came tearing through a wall, completely ignoring the door only a few feet to the side as they did so. The robots quickly advanced on the two, screeching and leaping in the usual manner.

Casey easily batted aside one mouser after the next, he was just beginning to think that this round would be all too easy when he heard metal twist and give behind him, followed by the cracking of bullet-proof glass. He glanced behind him in time to see another mouser advancing on the turtle girl behind him but was quickly forced to return his attention to the mousers he was already fighting when one of them clamped down on his leg.

Trying to shake the mouser off like an annoying dog only resulted in getting his leg torn up further and the two other mousers trying to attack Casey while he was distracted weren't helping the situation any.

"Get up against the wall!" Sam shouted. Without any better ideas Casey did as he was told. He moved to the side, swinging his bats and knocking aside the other robots until his back was quite literally up against the wall. "Now hold still!" The girl shouted. Casey looked up and felt the blood drain from his own face when he saw the turtle girl swinging a bat at him and aiming low.

"What the-!" He grunted just before the girl's bat smashed into the mouser body. The damaged robot released Casey's leg as it shut down, giving Casey the upper hand once again. "Thanks!" He called to the girl who now stood with her shell to him and swinging an aluminum bat with deadly accuracy at the mousers that had nearly eaten her in the alley.


	30. Debriefing

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Chapter thirty; Debriefing

* * *

Dr. Baxter Stockman stared at the monitor.

Every last mouser he had sent out was currently stationary, some of them had stopped transmitting a signal entirely. "How is this possible?" He quickly called up the mousers' previous locations and watched as they moved about the city.

At first it was difficult to locate exactly where they were headed, but at some point in the evening the signal they were tracking had cleared up; meaning that the girl had left the tunnels. The mousers had closed in on the stronger signal rapidly. As soon as Stockman recognized the exact location the girl had been staying at he felt understanding sink in.

"Miss. O'Neil's home." Stockman growled. "Then she has to have met the turtles by now!" Stockman pounded his fist into the arm of his chair. "This is terrible!" He exclaimed, but then his eyes lit up, "No, no, this is good! If she is staying with the turtles…then I can find them by following her! Excellent! Yes!" He steepled what was left of his fingers and sat back contentedly. This called for a change in strategy.

* * *

April looked up from her nervous pacing to see who stood in the doorway of her apartment.

"Sam!" The red head rushed forward and threw her arms around the mildly surprised girl. "You're alright!"

Sam blinked, not quite returning the hug. "Um…Casey's hurt." She announced numbly.

"He'll be okay. Are you alright?" April stepped back and took a better look at Samantha. "You didn't have that bandage earlier." She lifted one of the sleeves to get a better look at the bandage.

"You haven't even looked at Casey's leg. I'm fine, he's not." Sam deadpanned.

April glanced down at Casey's leg. She did a double take when she realized that not only had the bandage on his leg completely bled through but he was using what looked like a croquet mallet as a cane. "Casey! Are you alright?" April ran over and took a closer look at the bandage.

"Oh yeah, nothin' a short hospital stay can't fix." Casey quipped, although there was no hiding the hope in his eye for some real sympathy.

"April, what happened here!" Sam turned at the sound of Leo's voice and froze.

All four turtles stood in the hallway, weapons drawn and stances ready. The wiring in the building had been damaged, leaving most of the lights off and in the dim light the turtles' irises seemed to have vanished, leaving only an eerie white behind their masks. Their over-all appearance was vastly intimidating. In the dim lighting even Mikey's bright orange mask seemed to hold a sense of intimidation. Then there were the weapons. Suddenly they weren't so much like accessories or toys, they were _weapons_, designed, built and trained with deadly intent.

"I was kiddin'. Nobody needs ta go to the hospital. And April can tell ya about the mousers attackin' her building." Casey tried to assure the turtles. Neither he nor April seemed bothered by the fact that there strange green friends had gone and turned into actual warriors.

"Mousers!" The four chorused.

"I'll explain everything." April assured them, "But right now I don't think it's safe here."

Leo nodded, "Right, we should head back to the lair."

The turtles moved in and almost as if planned Raph helped Casey so that he wouldn't have to use the croquet mallet and the other three surrounded Casey, April and Sam like body guards as they moved out into the hallway and out of the building. April seemed to sense Sam's unease and kept one hand on the girl's shoulder until they were inside the battle shell and the turtles had put their weapons away.

During the drive back to the turtle's hide-out April explained what had happened at her apartment. Casey took up what his side of the story as they climbed out of the vehicle and moved to the elevator. He continued to talk as everyone but Sam walked easily through the elevator doors. Leo placed a gentle hand on her shell and guided her through.

The first time she had ridden in this elevator she had managed to do so without much more than a few words of encouragement. This time the elevator was going down and Sam found herself clinging to Leo's arm with such force that by the time the lift's doors opened again the tips of his fingers were tingling slightly. Instead of saying anything Leo simply waited till nobody was looking to flex the muscles in his hands and regain proper feeling.

By the time everyone had left the elevator Casey was done with his telling of the story.

"So, what happened between your running off and Casey's playing hero boy?" Raph asked.

Sam shrugged, "I ran. I must have taken a wrong turn and run into that dead-end." A scream echoed in her ears and expressions of fear and disgust haunted her vision. "Nothing to tell really."

While the turtle brothers and the humans began discussing how the mousers could be tracking Sam and to stop them Sam excused herself and went to bed.

She was so tired she expected to be asleep befor her head hit the pillow, but as she lay there her mind replayed the scene time and time again.

Shock.

Horror.

_Revulsion._

Then the scream.

The similar reaction from the man.

And then he had reached for something. What? A phone? A gun?

Something tickled down the side of Sam's face, followed by a similar sensation on the other side soon after.

Tapping at the door. Sam sat up and wiped her tears away in one motion. It was clear from the look on Master Splinter's face that she hadn't fooled him. His eyes were full of understanding as he came inside; hardly using the walking stick he carried with him. After sitting on the bed beside Sam in silence for a few moments he took a breath.

"My old senses may be dimming, but they tell me you were not entirely honest about the events of tonight."

Sam swallowed.

"It is my belief that a certain young lady did, in fact, have something happen to her tonight that disturbed her more than she would care to admit. But this is just the belief of an old rat."

The silence that settled between them seemed to hang like a weight around Samantha's neck, pulling heavier and heavier until… "I was seen." She stared at her hands in her lap. One hand was bare, the glove shoved in her belt hours before and forgotten. The palm of that hand was raw, but the mixing of green skin with red chaffing seemed wrong. Not wrong like bad make up, but wrong in the manner of abomination. The sight of her own damaged skin made Sam's stomach twist and recoil.

A gentle, furred hand brushed away tears that Sam had not felt escape. "A wise man once said, 'To ere is human'. Please believe me when I say this, whoever saw you this night could not have erred more greatly than to cast judgment upon you in any light other than that of wonder at your strength and courage."

Sam just shook her head. "I'm not strong, and I have no courage."

Master Splinter put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side in a fatherly embrace. "And that," He said, "Is where you ere."

* * *


	31. The clan grows restless

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Chapter thirty-one; The clan grows restless

* * *

"Mr. Stockman-"

"That's _Doctor_ Stockman." The scientist insisted.

"I care little for your proper title; the answer is still in the negative."

"What If I were to offer you-"

"NO! And if I catch you near my ninja, dead or alive I will make sure your corpse lands in the incinerator as well!" With that said Reiko snapped off the video feed. For several minutes she stared at the blank screen, seething at the mad-man's audacity.

It was bad enough that Reiko had to get rid of the evidence of her master's rage the previous night, but Stockman's 'offer' of help with the bodies made Reiko want to add his to the growing pile.

"Reiko-san?" A voice asked.

"What is it?" Reiko fought to keep her pent up emotions out of her voice.

"The memorial service has ended and the bodies have been prepared." The ninja reported.

Reiko nodded, "I will be there shortly." The slight whisper of cloth told as the young ninja bowed before leaving.

Taking but a moment to completely collect herself Reiko too turned and left the room. As she took the stairs to one of the basement floors her mind wandered to her master. His anger had been waxing hotter and hotter as the weeks went by. He had ordered many ninja to commit seppuku for their failure at infiltrating the apartment building sooner, much less procuring the missing disk. Only in the past few days had he begun killing ninja himself in his anger. The mission was clearly one of great enough importance that the master or his daughter would go themselves, but business matters kept them away. Reiko wondered how long this business matter would take.

Once she reached her destination her eyes flitted over to the bags held respectfully by two ninja each. Reiko nodded and the thick metal door leading to an incinerator was opened. One by one the bags were thrown inside, soon to be reduced to a white hot ash.

Reiko watched sadly as she supervised the bags being loaded into the incinerator. As the fourth bag was lifted she could not control herself.

"Stop." Two ninja looked up at her but did as they were told. Reiko moved over to the bag they carried and gently unzipped it about a half a meter. The plastic fell back to reveal a young woman with black hair pulled back into a tight braid. Reiko gently brushed aside a few strands of hair that fell on the woman's face, and then slid her hand over the face, gently closing the eyelids over the younger woman's black eyes. "Sayonara imoto."

The ninja carrying the body did not react to the words as Reiko zipped the bag up and nodded. Soon the last of the bags was thrown into the incinerator. Reiko watched until the contents had been reduced to unidentifiable ash. She then marked down on a document that several bags of shredded paper had been disposed of in such a manner, thus explaining the amount of ash.

She looked to the lower ranking ninja who stood awaiting orders. "Tell Hideo- _san,"_ she sneered the last syllable, "That if his next attempt upon the Gelding's residence is not successful the wrath of our master will not be the only anger he shall face." Reiko held the deaths of these ninja as the responsibility of the one directly in charge of all those failed missions and gaffs. If the master did not see fit to kill him after another failed attempt Reiko would.

One of the ninja swallowed loudly, but otherwise the Foot soldiers remained motionless. Reiko glared at them, "You will deliver my message, _exactly_ as I told you, and you will return to your daily tasks, _immediately!_" With that last snarl the ninja scattered.

The master's temper was not the only wrath that threatened to grow hot and destructive as the incinerator's fire. The ninja must move fast, be wise and stay alert to avoid getting burned themselves.

* * *

This chapter was supposed to be longer but a writers block cropped up rather suddenly. Not to worry, I think I have enough dynamite to blast free!

Um...reviews would be loved.


	32. Homefront

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Chapter thirty-two; Homefront.

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"Zack! Hey Zack!" Travis ran across the play yard to where the bigger kid was reading a comic book and eating a candy bar. "They finally agreed! They said I could come over to your place tomorrow!"

Zack grinned, "That's great! My mom's really looking forward to meeting you; something about interacting with my peers." He frowned, "Does that make any sense to you?"

Travis blinked, "No, but I think I heard my parents talking about it, so maybe it's one of those-" Travis puffed out his skinny chest and dropped his voice as far as it would go, "Son, you'll understand when you're a parent."

Zack laughed, "Yeah, ever get the feeling that they say that stuff just to get you to stop asking questions?"

Travis smiled, though there was a little bit of sadness to it, "Sam always called that the adult conspiracy. Whenever one of us said something Mom or Dad didn't get she'd tell them,-" This time he held up a finger and lifted his voice as high as it would go. "Don't worry about it. You'll understand when you're younger."

The two boys laughed.

"What's so funny?" Zack and Travis stiffened. Standing behind Travis was the biggest kid in the school, even bigger than Zack. Dylan was a sixth grader who should have been in seventh or eighth grade. He had an attitude that even the teachers were afraid of.

"Nothin'." Zack said meekly, trying to hide his comic book behind his back.

"This what's so funny?" Dylan snatched the comic and held it up. "Metal Head? What a duffus."

"Give it back Dylan." Travis ordered.

"Or what? You'll hit me? Bring it on rich kid." Dylan laughed. As he laughed he snatched Zack's candy bar as well.

The next thing Dylan knew he was being tackled in the gut by a fifth grade missile.

* * *

Donnie pushed away from the computer and frowned at Samantha. "I've run some simulations on my computer and I don't see Stockman using your body temperature to track you." Donnie said.

"Okay, so what options does that leave?" Sam asked. The two of them, plus April, Sat in Donnie's lab, trying to find how the mousers were tracking Sam.

"Probably some kind of internal tracking device, but the only way to be sure would be to use some kind of a metal detector or ID chip scanner to find where it is." Donnie explained.

"I have a friend at a local animal hospital that owes me a favor." April suggested. "I'm sure she would let me borrow a pet scanner tonight."

Donnie nodded, "That would be great." He looked at Sam and saw her rubbing the back of her neck and wincing. "What is it?"

Sam looked up. "You're saying that I might have one of those pet ID things on me?"

"Something like that." Donnie confirmed.

"Ehe." Sam said humorlessly, "I had to be unconscious when he did _that_." She remembered taking a cat to be chipped when she was little. The needle on that thing had been huge, more like a blade actually.

"Not necessarily." April corrected. "The technology used in pets is much less advanced than what Dr. Stockman had access to. It could have been in any of the infusions, shots, even the blood samples they took from you."

Sam gave her a slightly strained look. "Thanks, I feel so much better now."

April cringed slightly. "Sorry."

"Forget it, no biggie." Sam shrugged it off.

"If you're sure…" April sensed there was something below Sam's currently calm exterior. Donnie looked like he wanted to ask something himself.

Sam felt their concern and suppressed the urge to physically shake off their gaze. "So, um, if you do find that, thing, what happens next?" She asked quickly.

Donnie gave her a look that said he was still concerned, but answered, "Hopefully, April and I will find a way to either neutralize the signal externally. If that doesn't work we'll have to find some way to remove the tracking device." Sam nodded her understanding, her eyes straying back to the monitor of Donatello's computer.

The screen was switching from different cameras Donnie had set up around the city. There were several located in sewer tunnels, some posted around an old warehouse that Sam was pretty sure was their garage. There was even one set up to that the video feed showed the door to Donnie's lab. Finally there were rooftops, a lot of them, and for some reason these rooftops seemed to draw her attention.

While April and Donnie discussed methods of potentially neutralizing the tracking device Sam continued to watch the video feed. "Um…Donnie?" Donnie looked up.

"Yes Sam?"

"Can you change the angle of those cameras remotely?"

Donnie looked at the monitor. "Yes, why?"

Instead of answering right away, Sam stood up and moved closer to the computer. Donnie watched nervously as she pressed a couple buttons and nearly sighed in relief when the only thing that happened to his precious computer was the monitor went back a few cameras. "Could you move this one a little? To the right I think."

As Donnie complied April put a hand on Sam's shoulder, "What are you looking for?"

Sam shook her head and bit her lip, watching the monitor closely as the image slowly panned to the right. The ledge of the building came into view. Slowly the camera moved enough that some of the building across the street could be seen. A sign hung over the door and the words 'Krauts from Kraus' could be barely made out. "Stop! That's it! That's Mr. Kraus's German Grocer!"

Donnie's mind was racing as the pieces suddenly seemed to start falling into the puzzle he'd been trying to solve for months now, "You, know that place?" He asked slowly.

"Yes! That shop is across the street from my apartment! Your camera is on my apartment." Sam looked both excited and confused.

April checked the small red letters superimposed over the image in the corner. It was the same building the foot had been trying to get into for so long. "Sam, you may have just made things both easier, and harder."

* * *

Please Review.


	33. Don't forget

I do not own the TMNT.

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Chapter one; Don't forget.

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"_Insolent girl! Do you have any idea what is at stake here? We know where you go to school and we know where you live. We know about your family; your mother, father, brother, we know about them. We can take them the same way we took you, and we won't be as nice."_

"_I don't know where the disk is."_

"Shut up. Just shut up. Please."

"Sam, did you say something?" Leo asked. April, Master Splinter and the turtles had told Sam about the months of protection they had been providing the apartment. The same apartment they had only just learned was Samantha's old apartment building.

Samantha took a deep breath before she pushed her hair out of her face, trying to do the same with the memories. "The Disk. They must still be looking for the Disk."

Raph looked confused, "What disk?" He completely missed the glares Donnie and Leo were shooting him.

"After the ninja…the Foot Ninja," Sam corrected herself, mindful of the information she had just recieved, "kidnapped me I was questioned about some kind of disk." Sam's tone was calm, as was her expression, but her hands shook despite being clasped together. April moved over and placed a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Remember Raph? She told us about that the day she woke up." Donnie reminded him.

"She did?" Mikey asked. Donnie groaned and shook his head while Leo rubbed at a growing headache between his eyes.

"So, where is the disk?" Raph asked. There was something about that question and his natural rough tone that sent a shudder down Sam's spine.

"I _don't know_!" She snapped. "I never saw the stupid thing and didn't know it existed until that evil woman asked me about it!" For a moment she looked defiant and angry, then the moment passed and she glanced down at her lap quickly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bite your head off."

"No prob, touchy subject. I get it." Raph assured her. Sam nodded but didn't look up, she didn't want anybody to see how close she was to crying.

A three fingered hand gently took one of Sam's own five fingered hands. She looked up to see Leo staring intently at her with both sympathy and determination behind his blue mask. "Sam, I know this is hard for you, but we're going to need your help. Do you remember anything the woman said about the disk? Anything she might have given away while trying to question you?"

Sam looked down at her hand in his. Part of her mind suddenly felt very much focused on the fact that her own skin was just a shade or two lighter than Leonardo's. Another part of her mind, the part that had driven her so hard in school and the part that had supported her through Stockman's lab, that part of her thought of Travis. Evil ninja were trying to break into Sam's home.

"…_we know where you live. We know about your family; your mother, father, brother, we know about them. We can take them the same way we took you, and we won't be as nice."_

Her brother was in danger. When she looked up again her gaze was hard and determined, "All I know right now is that they were positive that someone had put it in my backpack. At the end of every school day I clean all the stuff out of my backpack so that nothing is forgotten. The day Mr. Saki drove me home I didn't pay much attention to what I was doing, if the disk was in my backpack then it's still in my room now."

Leo nodded, "Then that's where we'll have to start. We'll have to search your room and maybe your family's entire apartment."

Samantha nodded, "I understand, you'll want to go between eight in the morning and three in the afternoon if at all possible. Unless someone's changed their schedule Mom and Dad are at work and Travis is at school during that time."

Leo nodded, "Thanks Sam." With that he stood up and nodded to his brothers. They started to leave the room.

"Wait!" Sam said suddenly. Leo and the other turtles turned to look at her, "If I hear so much as a rumor that anyone touched the second drawer down on my dresser, turtle heads will roll!"

"Why, what's in that drawer?" Donnie asked.

"Death!" Sam growled. Although she was completely serious about wanting this one scrap of privacy there was the faintest glimmer of amusement in her eyes…very faint.

Donnie and Mikey looked confused but Raph sniggered and whispered something to Leo. Understanding dawned on the leader's face. "We won't touch it." He swore. He grabbed Mikey's mask tails and half dragged him from the room just as Mikey was beginning to figure it out for himself.

The last to leave was Donnie, who quickly reminded April and Master Splinter to change Sam's bandages before he left.

Once the turtles were gone Sam sighed and seemed to shrink within her shell. She excused herself to her room after assuring both Master Splinter and April that she just had to lie down.

In the room the turtles had given Sam she lay back on the bed that was not hers and looked at a ceiling she was not familiar with. Instead of thinking of home and four turtles combing through her stuff, Mikey probably peaking in her underwear drawer just to see what she would do, she closed her eyes and forced herself to think of something she'd rather forget. If there were any clues that would help protect Travis they would be in Sam's memory.

_

* * *

_

_Her struggles were useless as the needle slid easily into the vein. The plunger was expressed and a faintly cold feeling accompanied the entrance of this unknown chemical into her body. Still, Samantha refused to stop screaming until the room began to sway and spin._

"_Now," The ninja woman said with a smile as Samantha's calls for help died down, "Maybe we can get some answers."_

* * *

To be continued in "Some Dreams Won't Die"


End file.
